Speed Star Cheetah

 

Hello friends hope you are in good health and keeping your loved one safe, the more you talk on COVID is just irritating and painful hence let’s not get into the same and directly move to wildlife to get some good moments to cherish in this tough time.

Today I have picked up one of my favorite amongst big cats, today is International cat day hence I take this opportunity to come up with a big blog on the big cats. So give big claps and a warm welcome to Chatur Cheetah.

Considering the depth of the subject and the kind of quality which Cheetah posses, it is difficult to keep it short and hence I will try to provide details which are uncommon and interesting, so lets start with my experience and after that, we will go into the depth of this lovely cat.

Exceptional experience

Masai Mara was the place where we could experience the charm of this lovely cat. Unfortunately, in India, it is no longer there in wild but you can find them in some big zoo like Mysore zoo, so to see the charm in wild very few places are there in the World and Masai is one of them. I was very much excited to see Cheetah because so many times heard the stories on Nat Geo about speed and one point in time like others I was also confused about leopard and cheetah. It was a dream come true when we saw 3 together, 5 brother story is very famous and yes we could see like that 3 brothers together. At one point in time, they planned a hunt but could not make it due to distance as well as Zebra were on alert mode so the hunt was not successful but the atmosphere these 3 brothers created was just amazing. They got split in 3 different directions and talking with eyes with each other, it was just a unique and rare experience and hence I thought to bring the same here for your interest, you can make out from pictures as well. Let pictures talk more than words and hence let’s move to the next section to know unknown facts.

U3 – unheard unknown unique

How I generate speed

We are aware that Cheetah is a fasted animal and no one can achieve that speed but most of us don’t know that but they can sustain this speed for a very short distance of approximately 1,500 feet. Cheetah can accelerate at an amazing rate, going from a standstill position to as fast as 68 mph in less than three seconds but for a very short span of distance. Let me tell you the reason behind achieving this speed as well as why they cannot continue it for long-distance.

The cheetah has an enlarged heart and lungs that enable it to take in lots of oxygen and circulate it in a very effective manner. The nostrils of the cheetah are also larger than most animals of its size. Those adaptations allow the cheetah to take in ample oxygen to power their muscles efficiently to create maximum power and speed. Apart from the heart and lungs, a long thin body structure with the added benefit of long powerful legs helps cheetah to keep streamlines and aerodynamic to maintain top speed. 

Why high speed but a short distance

Now let me tell you the reason for what happens once such top speed is achieved and why it cannot go for long with a top speed. For top speed, they expend too much energy in running and they put a tremendous toll on lungs and heart plus body temperature rise to dangerous heights. Because of this, they run at top speed for a very short distance and they have to stop and cool down after they generate such high energy for running else it will cost a life.

The Subspecies

How many of us even know that there are subspecies in Cheetah? In 2017, the Cat Classification Task Force of the IUCN Cat Specialist Group revised felid taxonomy and recognized these four subspecies as valid. 

Southeast African cheetah, Asiatic cheetah (confined to central Iran, and is the only surviving cheetah population in Asia) Northeast African cheetah and Northwest African cheetah

King cheetah

The king cheetah is a variety of cheetah with the rare mutation for cream-colored fur marked with large, blotchy spots and three dark, wide stripes extending from the neck to the tail. At one time it was believed to be a cross between leopard and hyena. Since 1927 the king cheetah has been reported five more times in the wild in Zimbabwe, Botswana and northern Transvaal; one was photographed in 1975

After learning some amazing facts let us get into facts which are equally interesting and will give you a complete idea about this lovely creature. 

Little more about me

Although now found in Africa, the cheetah is believed to have originated in the Americas. The slender big cat started its migration into Asia about 100,000 years ago via the Beringian land bridge. The cats then moved southward into Africa 

Those black tear lines on either side of a cheetah’s nose helps in keeping the sun out of the big cat’s eyes while they hunt

A cheetah’s claws don’t retract when they run. Instead, they act like cleats to help the cheetah reach its top speeds. When running, cheetahs use their tail to steer, like a rudder for a boat

Cheetahs have between 2,000 and 3,000 spots, which help them to camouflage themselves

Cheetahs have evolved to live in an environment where water is scarce and can survive on one drink every three to four days

Female cheetahs are solitary, living alone or with their young. Males, however, live in small family groups of 2–3 brothers, known as coalitions

A cheetah has amazing eyesight in the daytime, they can spot prey from 5 km away but their night vision is poor

Sadly, this beautiful animal is threatened by loss of habitat and prey, as well as conflict with humans. As a result, the cheetah is classified as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red list

I hope you liked this blog about speed star cat that is too on international cat day, keep blessing and keep motivating me to deliver unique stuff, do let me know your feedback on btwildart@gmail.om

Learning of the day

Difference between cheetah and leopard

Cheetah	Leopard
Cheetah have spots	Leopards have rosettes
The spot of a cheetah is a clear, single, black spot separated from the other spots on the cat's body	A leopard, however, has smaller irregular shaped spots that group together in circles to form rosettes
The weight of a male cheetah is about 54kg	Male leopards in this area weigh closer to 60-70kg
Cheetahs are the fastest animals in the world	Leopards are only half as fast as a Cheetah
A cheetah’s tail is also much flatter in shape. Almost think of it as a rudder that the cheetah can use to steer itself when it’s running at top speeds	A leopard’s tail is much more tubular in shape. The importance of the tail for a leopard is balance, particularly when they’re hoisting carcasses, climbing up and down trees
Cheetah cannot climb tree	Leopard are expert in going up on tree along with kill as well
Cheetah have black ‘tear marks’ that streak from the inner corner of their eyes and down their cheeks	Such tear marks are not present in Leopard

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Beautiful Butterfly

Hello lovely people, I hope you and your family are doing fine. Day by day COVID cases is going up so it is very critical to take precautions to ensure we are safe. I am sure you are taking the utmost care.

The situation is not permitting to visit new places but I am making sure that I keep you updated with something unique every time. It is 4 months and we are locked up and still helpless with no clue on vaccine timelines.

Today I just took a little walk of wetland which is located 2KM from my home. The intention was to take a nature walk to get some breather from a negative environment and to try to see if I get some good shots for all of you. With all required precautions like mask and sanitizer, it was a different experience because of fear of COVID in mind

I was very excited to capture birds but surprisingly found this unique creature roaming around and my attention got diverted to them from birds. Capturing Butterflies is super fun because of the kind of color and pattern it offers. Until now, we used to ignore this little creature because birds and animals used to be a priority. However, today in the absence of birds and animals it made me realize the importance of it, and hence I spent a lot of time with them. To find out why attention got diverted and why I feel crazy about butterflies suddenly we need to jump to the next section. 

Exceptional Life Cycle

The life cycle of a butterfly is one of its kind, it’s such a different journey this lovely creature pass through which I believe is not comparable to any other species. So many butterflies we saw in our routine life but hardly pay attention to it and we don’t even bother to know about it. So let me update you on uniqueness. 

All butterflies have "complete metamorphosis." To grow into an adult they go through four stages: egg, larva, pupa, and adult

Winged adults lay eggs (1^st stage) on the food plant on which their larvae, known as caterpillars (2^nd stage), will feed. So little caterpillars, which our kids love the most is nothing but young insect stage of a butterfly

The caterpillars grow, sometimes very rapidly, and when fully developed, pupate 3^rd stage) in a chrysalis

When metamorphosis is complete, the pupal skin splits, the adult insect climbs out, and after its wings have expanded and dried (4^th stage), 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 entire life cycle. Check out the DSLR section to see the life cycle display. 

Isn’t it unique? Amazing life span, this colorful insect passes through to get wings and fly. Now let’s explore a few more interesting details as well

Colorful facts

People love watching colorful butterflies float from flower to flower. But from the tiniest blues to the largest swallowtails, how much do you really know about these insects? Here are interesting butterfly facts you'll find fascinating.

Butterfly Wings Are Transparent

Thousands of tiny scales cover butterfly’s wings and these scales reflect light in different colors. However, underneath all of those scales, a butterfly wing is actually formed by layers of chitin—the same protein that makes up an insect's exoskeleton. These layers are so thin you can see right through them. As a butterfly ages, scales fall off the wings, leaving spots of transparency where the chitin layer is exposed

Butterflies Taste with Their Feet

Butterflies have taste receptors on their feet to help them find their host plants and locate food

Butterflies Live on an All-Liquid Diet

Speaking of butterflies eating, adult butterflies can only feed on liquids—usually nectar. Their mouthparts are modified to enable them to drink, but they can't chew solids

Butterflies Drink From Mud Puddles

A butterfly cannot live on sugar alone; it needs minerals, too. To supplement its diet of nectar, a butterfly will occasionally sip from mud puddles, which are rich in minerals and salts. This behavior called puddling

Butterflies Often Live Just a Few Weeks

Once it emerges from its chrysalis as an adult, a butterfly has only two to four short weeks to live, in most cases. During that time, it focuses all its energy on two tasks: eating and mating

Butterflies Are Nearsighted but Can See Colors

Within about 10–12 feet, butterfly eyesight is quite good. Anything beyond that distance gets a little blurry. Despite that, butterflies can see not just some of the colors that we can see, but also a range of ultraviolet colors that are invisible to the human eye

I believe the qualities which this insect is made up of is just incomparable, we should teach such minute details to our next generation so as they can understand and respect the mother nature. I hope you liked the story of this street dancer, do let me know your feedback on btwildart@gmail.om

Learning of the day

State Bird of Jammu and Kashmir 

Black-necked crane

BT Wild Art

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Life Cycle of Butterfly 

Euploea core, the common crow butterfly

Great Eggfly, also called the Blue Moon Butterfly

The Blue Tiger Butterfly

Street Dancer - Pied KF

Dear friends, hope you and your family are in the best of health, please take due care because the rainy season brings many more scope of illness along with rain. In current times we cannot afford any careless attitude hence take extra care and be safe.

It is a long gap now for trip reports and the new addition of species in my watch list so whenever I miss them I refer my photo repository to get a feel of old time. While going through the database I found this little exciting bird and quickly decided to publish the same in today’s blog

This little street dancer “Pied Kingfisher” is very cute bird and in my favorite list, let me open the facts one by one next section and update you on the story of why I name this bird as a dancing star.

Street Dancer

Pied Kingfisher is known for its hunting habit and the style of hunting is unique from all other Kingfisher birds in the family. The style of hunting is hovering prior to attacking the prey. It hovers for a while in the air for a while before locking the target or you can say it has finalized the target and because in happiness it dances in the air for a while and after hovering it immediately attack and get the fish right under its bill from the river.

The pied kingfisher is the largest of the ‘hovering’ birds. Hovering describes the ability to stay in one place while flying. It is just a matter of the time that it starts hovering and gets fish from the river; it is a very sharp and accurate attack on the target. They hunt by hovering 50-65 feet above the water and then diving headfirst (or rather, bill-first) into the water. Pied kingfishers demonstrate spectacular speed and agility on the hunt. Isn’t it amazing! Of course, it is and there are many more facts, which are equally interesting so let go to the next section to see other qualities of this litter bird. 

Fascinating Facts

Pied Kingfisher’s eyes have adapted to spot the exact position of fish from above. Once the kingfisher spots the prey, refractions in the water don’t affect its vision. It has the ability to correct according to refraction and react to sudden movements of its prey

It is the only black and white kingfisher. Males have a double black band across their breast and females have a black chest that is often broken with a white stripe in the middle

When perched they usually bob their heads and flick up their tail. They are fast-moving and fly at speeds of up to 50 km/hr

Pied kingfishers never hunt on land. Their diet consists predominantly of fish, with a few crustaceans on the side. Fish is their favorite meal; they can swallow their prey in mid-flight

They also eat small crustaceans, dragonfly larvae, mollusks, and frogs. The one definitive dietary rule is that their food is always aquatic

You Won’t Spot the Pied Kingfisher’s Nest in a Tree. Pied kingfishers make their nests close to water. They make them by digging out holes in vertical mud banks!  These peculiar nests are generally 4-5 feet deep

The King of Kingfishers, simply watching the pied kingfisher in action will demonstrate the array of superpowers that it has. It is a record-breaker, expert flier, skilled hunter and best of all – loves to socialize

Think of Pied Kingfishers as Mythical ‘Rude’ Birds. Rudis is the Latin word for ‘rude’ or ‘wild’. The ‘mythical wild’ is an appropriate name for a bird with almost fantastical hunting skills!

So many qualities and hardly few we know, I hope you liked the story of this street dancer, do let me know your feedback on btwildart@gmail.om

Learning of the day

State Bird of Himachal Pradesh

The western Tragopan (Jujurana) or western horned Tragopan

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Black Necked Stork

Dear loved ones hope you and your family are safe, now we have entered into a more critical situation because it is UNLOCK. Considering the economic impact, job impact, survival of poor people and many more such practical difficulties have forced the Nation to enter into UNLOCK.

Now it is upon us and no one else to ensure we stay away from COVID, keeping distance, sanitization, mask, etc will be part of our routine. We have to make sure that we are not carried away with frustration and start gathering or going to public places at large, this will cost us at large. Please be safe and ensure for some more time to continue safety precautions and avoid traveling/ outings, for sure this time will pass by. This reminds me of my favorite lines, this is how bad time will go and a good time will bring something new.  

Zindagi Ki Yehi Reet Hai.  Haar Ke Baad Hi Jeet Hai

Thode Aansu Hai, Thodi Hasi. Aaj Gham Hai To Kal Hai Khushi

One part is safety; other is helping poor, and needy. Go local, avoid imported materials from other countries, and contribute to our own economy. Do not cut the salary of daily wagers they are the most affected people in this world, help them, and help them to survive.

So now let me get back to our world of wildlife, now a day on the weekend I have started reviewing old trips and trying to find something new for you. So today I was going through Bharatpur trip and realized that I have not yet talked about this bird, so let me introduce the tiger of birds “Black-Necked Stork

Tiger of bird

I am sure you will be thinking what is so special that I am saying it is a tiger of birds. The tiger because it is very aggressive compare to other wading birds. In the month of February, we experienced the aggression of this bird at Bharatpur bird sanctuary. We wanted to evaluate as many species we can and one of the targets was Pelicans but due to Black Necked had occupied the territory so well that it was not allowing any other birds of prey to come within the range. Jaivinder our expert guide enlighten with the aggression and territorial behavior of this bird.

 Black-necked is strongly territorial and needs a lot of space. This behavior is very much similar to Tiger in terms of defending territory from others including other black-necked males very aggressively. In Jaivinder’s words, the Black-necked is so aggressive and killer that it can kill poisonous snakes very easily and can eat them smoothly as well. Jaivinder’s word “Yeh tiger se thodi Kam hai, snake ko goli ki Tarah Nigel leta hai”. This is why this bird is so special and unique with its habits, let’s see what more we can learn about this bird in the next section.  

Fantastic Facts

The black-necked stork (Ephippiorhynchus asiaticus) is a tall long-necked wading bird in the stork family. It is a resident species across the Indian Subcontinent and Southeast Asia with a disjunction population in Australia 

Adult birds of both sexes have a heavy bill and are patterned in white and glossy blacks, but the sexes differ in the color of the iris, the females are yellow while the males are brown

In Australia, it is sometimes called a Jabiru although that name refers to a stork species found in the Americas. It is one of the few storks that are strongly territorial when feeding.

The black-necked stork is a tall bird measuring up to 53in. When fully outstretched their wings measure 90.5in from tip to tip. The average black-necked stork weighs 4.1kg. However, this is nearly 35% less than the mean body mass of the closely related saddle-billed stork

This large stork has a dance-like display. Pair stalks up to each other face to face, extending their wings and fluttering the wingtips rapidly and advancing their heads until they meet. They then clatter their bills and walk away. The display lasts for a minute and maybe repeated several times

The black-necked stork is a carnivore and its diet includes water birds such as coots, darters, little grebes, northern shoveller, pheasant-tailed jacana, and a range of aquatic vertebrates including fish, amphibians, reptiles, and invertebrates such as crabs and mollusks

Nest building in India commences during the peak of the monsoon with most of the nests initiated during September – November, with few new nests, built afterward until January. The nest is large, as much as 3 to 6 feet across and made up of sticks, branches and lined with rushes, water-plants and sometimes with a mud plaster on the edges

Adults stop feeding the young at the nest and begin to show aggression towards the chicks after they are about 3 or 4 months old. The young birds may stay on nearby for about a year but disperse soon

The old culture 

The Mir Shikars, traditional bird hunters of Bihar, India had a ritual practice that required a young man to capture a black-necked stork "Loha Sarang" alive before he could marry. A procession would locate a bird and the bridegroom-to-be would try to catch the bird with a limed stick. The cornered bird was a ferocious adversary. The ritual was stopped in the 1920s after a young man was killed in the process. Young birds have been known to be taken from the nest for meat in Assam.

So many qualities and hardly few we know, I hope you liked the story of this Tiger bird, do let me know your feedback on btwildart@gmail.om

Learning of the day

State Bird of Haryana - Black francolin 

Locally known as Kaala Teeter:  रूपम काला तीतर)

BT Wild Art

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