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Venus Flytrap

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Venus Flytrap

Don’t get caught in the Venus flytrap!

  • Venus flytraps are a species of small insect-eating plants that grow from rhizomes, that are native to eastern subtropical United States.
  • The scientific name of the Venus flytrap is Dionaea muscipula, and it is from the Droseraceae family, the family of sundews; and the species is the only one in its genera.
  • ‘Venus flytraps’ are also known as ‘Venus fly traps’ and ‘Venus’ flytraps’; and they are of a bright green to red colour, with up to seven leaves that have a pink to red interior surface; and the plant grows to approximately 20 cm (7.9 inches) in diameter.
  • The traps of the Venus flytrap are also the leaves, and they are a hinged pair of almost semi-circles, with what look like eyelashes on the outer edges.
  • Two to five trigger hairs are found inside each part of the Venus flytrap trap, which triggers the trap to close on contact with an object, and they can close in less than a second, at approximately 100 milliseconds.
Venus Flytrap, Carnivorous, Pot, Trivia, Ten Random Facts, Plant, Vegetation, BloomingA Venus Flytrap
Image courtesy of Alex Chief/Flickr
  • Once something is trapped, Venus flytraps exert digestion fluids to dissolve the inner body of the prey into an absorbable liquid, while the inedible exoskeleton is disposed of after the traps reopen.
  • To avoid closing from non-food triggers such as dust, Venus flytrap traps will only close if more than one of its trigger hairs is touched in a period of twenty seconds from the first touch.
  • Venus flytraps most often capture and eat ants and spiders, but they also catch other insects including beetles; and it takes from 5 to 12 days to digest its caught prey, the time dependent on the prey size and other conditions.
  • If an inedible object falls into a Venus flytrap trap, the trap will reopen and dispose of the object in about half a day after trapping.
  • Venus flytraps bloom small flowers coloured white, that cluster at the top of the plant, and after flowering the plant often produces many tiny seeds that are black in colour.
Bibliography:
Diaonaea muscipula (Venus Flytrap), n.d, KEW Royal Botanical Gardens, http://www.kew.org/science-conservation/plants-fungi/dionaea-muscipula-venus-flytrap
The Mysterious Venus’ Flytrap, n.d, Botanical Society of America, http://botany.org/bsa/misc/carn.html
Venus Flytrap, 2016, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Venus_flytrap

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Satin Bowerbird

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Satin Bowerbird

If your blue pen lid is missing, blame the satin bowerbird.

  • Satin bowerbirds are a species of bird, native to the eastern states of Australia, and they are typically found in forest habitats, especially wet or rainforest areas.
  • The scientific name of the satin bowerbird is Ptilonorhynchus violaceus and it is from the family Ptilonorhynchidae, the family of bowerbirds.
  • The plumage of a mature seven year old male satin bowerbird is a deep blue-black colour, while females and younger males have a colour combination of olive-green and brown, patterned with cream.
  • Satin bowerbirds generally reach a height of 27 to 33 centimetres (10.6 to 13 inches), and their diet consists primarily of fruit, and they also eat seeds, leaves and insects.
  • A male satin bowerbird constructs a display structure, known as a ‘bower’, that it builds with sticks on the ground, and it has two sides facing each other with a pathway through the middle, and while it is often thought of as a nest, it is never used for this purpose.

Satin Bowerbird, Trivia, Ten Random Facts, Bird, Animal, Australia, Male, Blue

  • Male satin bowerbirds often ‘paint’ the inside of their bower, often with a mix of saliva and plant material; and they are notable for collecting objects, generally of a blue colour, though yellow or metallic coloured objects may also be gathered, to place in and around their bower as decoration.
  • The satin bowerbird male attracts a female partner through its bower and colourful objects, as well as a special ‘dance’ it performs, and younger females are more attracted to bower aesthetics, while older females favour a better dance performance when determining their mate.
  • A female satin bowerbird typically lays one to three eggs each year, of a brown to cream colour with dark markings, in a nest that it builds in trees; and the eggs and young are cared for by the female.
  • Satin bowerbirds have blue eyes, and the mature males have a creamy yellow to green coloured beak, while the females have a dark coloured one.
  • Satin bowerbirds can imitate the calls of other birds, and they also make sounds that resemble hisses, whistles, and buzzes.
Bibliography:
Evans O, Satin Bowerbird, 2010, Australian Museum, http://australianmuseum.net.au/satin-bowerbird
Satin Bowerbird, 2016, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satin_bowerbird
Satin Bowerbird, n.d, Birds in Backyards, http://www.birdsinbackyards.net/species/Ptilonorhynchus-violaceus
Satin Bowerbird, n.d, Oiseaux-Birds, http://www.oiseaux-birds.com/card-satin-bowerbird.html

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Lake Magadi

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Lake Magadi

If you ever need to salt your potato, a trip to Lake Magadi may be worth your while.

  • Lake Magadi is a lake found in the Great Rift Valley of Kenya, Africa, that has a notably high salt content; and ‘magadi’ means ‘soda’ in the native Swahili language.
  • Lake Magadi covers an area greater than 100 square kilometres (39 square miles), and it is roughly 32 kilometres (20 miles) in length and 3.2 kilometres (2 miles) in width, at its furthermost points.
  •  The salt density of Lake Magadi is quite high, with some salt deposits in the lake reaching 40 metres (131 feet) in thickness.
  • Lake Magadi is mostly fed by water sources of a high salt content, including various hot springs on the edge of the lake, and some streams, particularly during the wet season; and the lake has no outlet, as the water mostly evaporates.
  • Due to Lake Magadi’s large quantities of salt, one of the only fauna species found in the lake is a cichlid fish, with the scientific name Alcolapia grahami, which is endemic to the edges of the lake where the water temperature is tolerable.
Lake Magadi, Trivia, Ten Random Facts, Pink, Kenya, Africa, Salt, Water
Lake Magadi
Image courtesy of Ninara/Flickr
  • A type of mineral – trona – can be found abundant in Lake Magadi, from which sodium carbonate, or soda ash is extracted; a chemical that is commonly used in dyeing fabric, and creating glass and paper.
  • Lake Magadi is among the largest sources of trona in the world; and the lake is surrounded by igneous rocks, and sits at at the lowest part of the valley it is found in, at approximately 600 m (1968.5 feet) above sea level.
  • When Lake Magadi contains water, typically up to a metre deep (3.2 feet), it is a bright pink colour, as a result of the salt content.
  • Lake Magadi is a popular wading and breeding site for flocks of flamingos, and other birds also gather in the area, making it a favoured bird watching location.
  • Lake Magadi is under threat from pollution from nearby areas, partly from environmentally hazardous farming methods, and as a result the quality of soda ash mined from the lake has decreased in recent years.
Bibliography:
Kairu P, Lake Magadi Slowly Choking, 2015, Daily Nation,http://www.nation.co.ke/lifestyle/DN2/Lake-Magadi-slowly-choking–/-/957860/2798804/-/g28hplz/-/index.html
Lake Magadi, 2016, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Magadi
Lake Magadi, 2016, Encyclopaedia Britannica, http://www.britannica.com/place/Lake-Magadi
Lake Magadi and Around, 2016, Rough Guides, http://www.roughguides.com/destinations/africa/kenya/nairobi-around/southern-rift-valley/lake-magadi-around/

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Rambutan

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Rambutan

Rambutans are sweet balls of flame and fire.

  • Rambutans are a tropical fruit that grow on trees that are native to Southeast Asia, especially areas of Indonesia and Malaysia.
  • The scientific name of the rambutan fruit tree is Nephelium lappaceum, and it is from the family Sapindaceae, the family of soapberries.
  • The term ‘rambutan’ is derived from the word ‘rambut’ of the Indonesian and Malay languages, and is translated as ‘hair’.
  • Rambutans are a spherical or slightly ovoid shape, typically 3 to 6 centimetres (1.2 to 2.4 inches) in length, with protruding thick spiky hairs.
  • Usually ripe rambutans have a red skin colour, though yellow or orange varieties are available, and they have a flesh coloured white, sometimes with a pink tint.
Rambutan, Red, Fruit, Spiky, Trivia, Food, Culinary, Ten Random Facts Rambutan
Image courtesy of Frank Fox/Flickr
  • Rambutans feature a single seed that some have suggested is poisonous, and while the seed is bitter tasting when raw, it is suggested that once roasted or cooked, it is safe to eat.
  • Rambutan fruit is green before it ripens and should stay on the tree until ripe; and the fruit is popularly cultivated in tropical areas, across Southeast Asia, southern Central America, parts of Africa and the Caribbean.
  • Rambutan fruit have a fresh taste that is quite sweet, similar to lychee and longan fruit.
  • It is common for rambutans to be eaten raw, however they can be made into a jam, or prepared in a salad or dessert.
  • The nutritional content of rambutans is quite small, though varied, though it is a good source of vitamin C, fibre, copper and manganese.
Bibliography:
Rambutan, 2006, Northern Territory Government, http://www.nt.gov.au/d/Content/File/p/Fruit/FF13_rambutan.pdf
Rambutan, 2015, Cape Trib, http://www.capetrib.com.au/rambutan.htm
Rambutan, 2016, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rambutan
Yingling K, What Is the Difference Between the Lychee, Rambutan and Longan?, 2014, Huffpost Taste, http://www.huffingtonpost.com/kimlai-yingling/lychee-rambutan-and-longan_b_4690073.html

White Bat Plant

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White Bat Plant

How many times did you glance at the white bat plant?

  • White bat plants are a species of relatively large flowering plants, notable for their blooms that have a particularly strange appearance.
  • ‘White bat plants’ are also known as ‘giant bat plants’, ‘giant batflowers’, ‘purple batflowers’, ‘white batflowers’ and ‘cat whiskers plants’.
  • The scientific name of the white bat plant is Tacca integrifolia and it is from the family Dioscoreaceae, the family of yams.
  • White bat plants are native to Southeast Asia, and they grow from rhizomes, in both tropical and subtropical habitats.
  • The flowers of white bat plants tend to resemble the face of a bat, featuring a purple, plum or brown main flower colour, white whisker-like appendages and large white with purple upper bracts.
White Bat Plant, Ten Random Facts, Trivia, Petal, Large, Appearance, Strange, Plant
White Bat Plant
Image courtesy of Scott Zona/Flickr
  • White bat plants grow to be roughly 60 to 122 centimetres (24 to 48 inches) in height and their whiskers can grow as long as 71 centimetres (28 inches).
  • White bat plants are perennials that tend to die off in the winter months, and they grow best in partial or full shade.
  • Typically, white bat plants are grown for ornamental purposes, however they can be hard to obtain, and also difficult to care for.
  • White bat plants usually bloom during warm months, generally in spring and summer, with up to eight flowers blooming per plant each year.
  • The normally large, glossy green leaves of white bat plants, can turn black when the temperature is too cold.
Bibliography:
Black Bat Plant & White Bat Flower Plant, 2014, Daylilies in Australia, https://www.dayliliesinaustralia.com.au/black-bat-plant-white-bat-flower-plant/
Giant Bat Plant, 2009, Paradise Distributors, http://paraplants.com.au/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=63%3Atip-of-the-week&Itemid=27
Tacca integrifolia, 2016, Nurseries Online, http://www.nurseriesonline.com.au/plant-index/tropical-plants/tacca-integrifolia/
VanZile J, White Batflower – Growing Tacca Integrifolia Indoors, 2015, About Home, http://houseplants.about.com/od/More_Plant_Profiles/p/White-Batflower-Growing-Tacca-Integrifolia-Indoors.htm
White Bat Plant, 2015, Burke’s Backyard, http://www.burkesbackyard.com.au/fact-sheets/in-the-garden/flowering-plants-shrubs/white-bat-plant/#.VxSTd_l96Uk

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DVD

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DVD

Sometimes you just sit back and wonder how so much data can be stored on a small DVD.

  • A DVD is a type of disc storage device, based on and similar to the CD or compact disc invention, that can hold various forms of digital information on its surface.
  • The initials ‘DVD’ were originally an acronym for ‘digital video disc’ and while it was suggested that the name should change to ‘digital versatile disc’, a now generally accepted term describing the invention, the initials became the official name of the disc, as its creators could never agree upon the extended name.
  • DVDs are the same size as CDs, a flat disc typically 12 cm (4.7 inches) in diameter, though there are some that are smaller; and they are most commonly used to store films or video files, but also games, other software and media files, among others.
  • David Gregg from the United States invented the optical ‘Videodisk’ in 1958, that was later developed into the ‘LaserDisc’ which was released for sale in 1978 with limited success, and these formats were the predecessors of the commercially successful and widely popular DVD, which was invented in 1995.
  • DVDs can come in two main forms – the read-only variants and the read-write variants, where the latter has the ability to have data written to the disc via a ‘writer’ – a machine that is often combined with a disc player, and while the data written on some discs is permanent, some writable discs have the ability to have the data removed or replaced with other data.

DVD, Shine, Trivia, Ten Random Facts, Film, Movie, Back, Front, Hugo

  • Originally two different groups of companies were undergoing their own research and development to invent what became today’s DVD, with Sony and Phillips in one group and Toshiba and a number of other companies in another, however these companies joined forces on the recommendation of IBM, to avoid another format war like that of the VHS and Betamax videotapes.
  • 4.7 gigabytes is the most common data storage capacity of a DVD disc, having a one side and one layer format; though up to just over 17 gigabytes of data can be stored on a disc if it is formatted with two sides and two layers, as more formatted sides and layers equals more available space.
  • DVDs are particularly more appealing than their videotape predecessors, as they store much more data, have a significantly higher quality of sound and picture, and the data is able to be stored longer.
  • DVDs were first sold in Japan in late 1996; then in early 1997 in Central and North America; in 1998 – Europe, Africa and the remainder of Asia; and finally Australia in 1999.
  • A red laser is used to read and write DVDs, and this allows greater storage capacity than CDs, as red has a shorter wavelength at 650 nanometers, than the CD’s infrared, and therefore the discs are able to be ‘written’ in a smaller format; though Blu-Ray discs, the disc’s successor, which were first available for sale in 2006, can store up to 50 gigabytes of data by using a blue laser which has an even shorter wavelength than that of its predecessor.
Bibliography:
DVD, 2016, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DVD
History of DVD, 2016, Did You Know?, http://didyouknow.org/dvdhistory/
Woodford C, CD and DVD Players, 2015, Explain That Stuff!, http://www.explainthatstuff.com/cdplayers.html

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