Antelopes

Antelopes are hoofed animals more like deer with hollow horns. There are many different animals with their different sizes and coats. Antelopes can be as small as rabbit like the royal antelope to ox sized elands. They live in grasslands, brush areas, and forests in much of Africa and some of Asia. Some antelopes include gazelle, impala, springbok, pronghorn, black-buck and others. They are hunted by big cats, hunting dogs such as hyenas and African hunting dogs as well as humans.

The antelopes' main defenses are camouflage and speed as antelopes can jump as well as run. They have large ears and are extremely keen in hearing out their predators. Antelope males all have antlers that could range from tiny studs of the dik-dik to 63 inch long horns of the greater kudu. 2/3 female antelopes bear horns. They eat vegetation such as grass which as ruminants, antelopes first swallow their food without chewing it and then they regurgitate a cud. Then they chew it thoroughly and swallow it. 

The Brain and the nervous system

The brain is a diverse topic with limited knowledge. Anatomy, Physiology, Neurology, Psychology, and many other fields are included in this study. From the information that scientists know, here are some of the basics about understanding the nervous system and the main brain body.

Our nervous system is an important part of our lives. In fact, without it, we wouldn't be able to do anything! It is responsible for everything you do, think, or feel. This is what controls your voluntary/involuntary movements, and what gives you the raw information of your senses and what your environment/surroundings are.The nervous system is divided into 2 parts 

1. Central nervous system- abbreviated as the CNS, is composed of brain's main body and the spinal cord.
2. Peripheral nervous system- abbreviated as PNS, is all the nerves branching from the CNS.  Cranial nerves branch from the brain while spinal nerves are found extending from the spinal cord.

The two systems combined will control many other systems such as the system for movement (somatic nervous system and skeletal system) (for more info on these, click here)(This is just a very brief view of the Nervous system. For a better explanation, click here)
 

The brain isn't what many think it is. Many simply perceive it as an organ in your head that has a wrinkly texture through its entire body which helps you think and generate ideas. Well, they are right to some extent...

The brain is divided into 4 parts. Diencephalon, brain stem, cerebellum, and Cerebrum and often, many areas of the brain will control one specific function, every area has its own task for that function and some areas have more a major part for that function that others. 

The Brain stem is the small "stem" like structure that extends from your brain to the spinal cord. It may just look like a connection but it is responsible for many action too. It controls your involuntary actions such as heart beating and breathing by the means of many connections through spinal nerves which branch out to the area of your major organs. 

The diencephalon means between brain and as its name explains, it sits right in the middle of both left and right hemispheres of the brain. It contains a very important system in your body known as the limbic system (for more info about the limbic system, click here) which is your learning, emotions, and cognitive skills. 

The Cerebellum coordinates with movement with counter balancing moves to so you don't lose your balance while moving. It is also believes that the cerebellum controls some of your language and attention skills as well as your reactions to fear and pleasure. 
 

The crunched paper shaped texture part of the brain is known as the cerebrum. It is divided into 4 regions: Frontal lobe, Parietal lobe, Occipital lobe and Temporal lobe.

The frontal lobe of your brain controls your speech and social skills, main motor (movement) center. Your parietal lobe brings sensory information together and processes that information. Your occipital lobe controls your primary visual cortex (center) but is located on the back of the brain. And the temporal lobe contains your memory and cognition skills such as remembering faces and language skills as well as the sense of hearing.

Battle of Yorktown

Thus the last battle in the American Revolution and an amazing battle strategy planted to destroy the British. Yorktown is my favorite siege. The battle took place on Octer 19th 1781.

Washington was in New York. The British were slowly tracking him and attacks became more frequent. Until he heard that General Cornwallis was in Yorktown Virginia. If he could defeat Cornwallis this means he wins the war. Most of the troops are with him and the British would forcefully surrender.

The Americans knowing the French were on their side and knew they had a good navy decided that they would attack the British soldiers coming on ship to Yorktown. If the French don't reach there on time, the British would get the supplies and men to Cornwallis and he would be unbeatable. The Americans and the French armies would corner him at the bay. If Cornwallis tries to leave by boat, the french Navy should be able to bombard them. But...what if the French arrive too late.

The answer is. They weren't. Clinton's army were bombarded and they retreated. The French continued their voyage to the York river where it is written Ocean Battle on my fail picture. The Americans attacked at early morning. The British didn't know what in the world was happening. But soon. The Americans and French captured Yorktown and the battle was over.

America gained independence. The treaty of Paris was in 1783. The war was over.
What I want you to think:

Think about all those soldiers who died in believing.
Think of how many didn't see their families ever again.
Think of what would happen if the French were too late.

Battle of Bunker-Hill

In  this epic battle of history, 1 side suffered heavy losses and learned allot but the most important part was that the American army showed their courage in fighting.

The attacks started at around 3:30 pm. The Americans were led by Colonel William Prescott as the Britsih assaulted. On the heavy rain off bullets by the Americans, they were told to pick off officers. And a famous saying by Prescott 'Do not fire until you see white in the Britishers' eyes' since they were low on ammunition. Guarded by a stonewall they had something to duck under and to doge. The British were working their way towards the fences and against the force of gravity. This made slaughter and bloodshed for the British. Exhausted soldiers being picked off effortlessly by the Americans. The first force was defeated. The general of the British side William Howe felt embarrassed.

And again the second time the British tried to get past the fences. But the heavy musketry was too heavy. The way the British fired was like this. The first row of soldiers crouched and shot giving way to the second row. After the first and second row finished they ducked and let the 3rd row fire. And again and again. First the light British troops attacked on foot. As soon as they came close BANG they were shot down. The remaining retreated and joined the force and so on. But as the Americans failed to keep the 3rd brigade of Britishers off, the British succeeded their plans. The British had bayonets at the end of their muskets. This means they can stab with their sharp tip on their musket but Americans don't have these.

They attacked brutally. The Americans were forced to retreat. The Americans had barely any ammo left to fire back as they ran. And therefore, the British captured Bunker Hill. But this proved to many people that the Americans could fight back. This battle is also known as Battle of Breed's Hill. The battle ended around 5:30. The important lesson learnt was to Howe. Never underestimate Americans.

Hippos

The African Hippo, It causes the most deaths of all other large animals to humans. But, it is geared with survival adaptations that come in handy a lot.

Hippos cannot survive out of water. When in the sun they get this pink looking substance on their body. You might think they are sunburns, but actually, they are a kind of sunscreen that the hippo makes itself. It travels at night to feed. They travel at least 5 miles to find grass through the forests into fields. And just when the sun peeps out. They Stampede in an enormous herd knocking down everything in their path. This is the time when villager wake up. When they see the hippos, it's too late.

Hippo males are dominant animals. All they care about is, who controls what. In a large herd of hippos, all are female but 1. This is the dominant male. He will fight till death to be dominant. The reason, is because he has mating rights. To say he is dominant, he wriggles his tale, which splashes some water and spreading their feces. Males can get into gruesome fights. When males fight, their wounds should be infected, but they don't. The same fluid that gives in for their sunscreen gives in as an anti-biotic

It is believed that hippos are related to whales. They have a bone that connects both hind legs that is unique to other animals and this family includes whales. They evolved from a four legged animal millions of years ago. Soon it stretched and evolved into what we see now.

Carnivorous Dogs

There are many carnivorous animals but to main groups
1.Cats
2.Dogs

And I am going to talk about the dog family in these 2 groups.
Dogs are highly successful animals thriving all around the world in different species. Some of these include. In this I will talk about wolves and hunting dogs.

• Wolves
• Foxes
• Hyenas
• African hunting dogs
• and many more such as the bush dog

African Hunting Dogs
These dogs are the most successful hunter that chase their prey in the world with 8/10 of their hunts successful. They are led by an alpha male and female. This is the only pair in the whole clan that can breed. These animals are not that common to find for their burrows are well hidden in the shrubs. Their litter can have 20+ pups and as a pack they can hunt in up to 50 in a pack. a few usually chase the herd from behind and drive them into the waiting dogs. Therefore in t heir sheer number they usually manage to take a target down such as an animal as big a wildebeest. When the hunter reach home to feed their pups, the pups lick the adults mouths to indicate that they want food. The adult regurgitates food. As most dog pups fight for food, these share even as pups.

Wolves
Wolves are another part of the dogs' family. Whereas these are not as successful in hunting as the hunting dogs and only 1/10 of their hunts are successful and they hunt quite often. They travel with the elk herds picking on the weaklings. Wolves can be howling for 2 reasons
1.  To warn of other wolf packs
2.  To reunite again after a long chase
Wolves use the same method as their relatives in Africa but have less number of them in a pack.
Wolves usually prey on large herbivores such as deer, elk, and moose. But they need lots of power to take down a moose for they are large and powerful. These wolves have a strict hierarchy and just like hunting dogs only the alpha male and female can mate. The females have their own hierarchy and the males too. 

The Omnivorous Opportunists

Animals such as Pandas are very picky eating only bamboo. And when humans destroyed bamboo forests their population crashed. They had no other food to fall back on. But many other animals have. They are all successful omnivores.

The Raccoon
With and extreme sense of touch these are very successful omnivores. When in a creek, they feel underwater and build an image of what there is. And they can distinguish the difference between Oysters and rocks. When they feel a crayfish which has pincers they quickly kill it by disarming it and then eating the soft underside.

Skunks
In caves for a few months skunks dwell in them. Bats poo and produce a strong ammonia smell and the ground is full of flesh eating beetles. But still skunks prefer this place. It's when young bats are born. These bats are flightless and the huge number of them causes some to lose gripping. The skunk uses its hearing and depends on bumping into them. But if the bats once again reaches the wall, its safe.

Grizzly Bears 
These animals consume at least 12 salmon a day. Salmon in this season of late summer migrate in great numbers of 1,000's together and an easy feast of fat. And a few months before hibernation they eat berries because it's berry season. They can consume up to 200,000 berries a day. This boosts their hope of hibernation survival for 4 months in the winter.

Credits to David Attenborough and the series "Life of the Mammals"

Crocodile's Digestive System

Crocodiles are reptiles and like most reptiles they cannot chew, for their mouth cannot move sideways. And the Crocs have adapted away to deal with this problem.

Over the past millions of years, crocs have evolved bigger bodies and longer mouths. This enables more muscle for dragging in animals and for catching fish easier. But out of all these advantages, it forms a disadvantage. They cannot chew. And this calls for only one alternative...swallow chunks of their prey. This is bad for most animals like use for they will not digest properly.

While the food is going down the food pipe, it is met by sand and rocks. These elements help break down the horns, hooves, hair, and flesh. Now the more broken down material enters a pool of hydrochloric acid(hcl). But to keep from digesting itself the crocodile has layers in its body made of epithelial cells to protects itself from the deadly acid.. Otherwise the croc will be digested instead of its meal!


So now you know how the crocodile's digestive system works.

Hypernovas

    In space, stars die very often. But when large stars (unlike our sun) die, that’s when hypernovas are formed.

One fine day astrologists spotted a huge amount of gamma radiation. They named it a gamma ray. But, how was this formed? What caused this? How powerful is it? Well the answer found were old dying LARGE stars. Let me explain. 

     When a huge star is dying, the inside of the star is crushed by force in the inside. This amount of force is so large that it creates something very powerful - a black hole. The black hole starts to feed on the star, sucking it in at a million earth masses PER SECOND!!! But this is too much for the black hole for it cannot manage this much. It then releases a large amount of energy and this is the gamma ray spotted. If there were to be a star to die out like this near the earth, it would wipe out all of the life. Infact, what was the evidence of thousands of healthy trilobites (prehistoric underwater animals) to die out one fine day? Scientists believe it is a star close by that wiped out all life on planet earth.

    Gamma: There are 3 kinds of nuclear radiations that we know of. Alpha, Beta, and Gamma. Alpha is the weakest, it can penetrate through very few things. Beta can penetrate through a lot more than Alpha. But Gamma is very powerful. As a matter of fact Gamma is used in nuclear bombs.

    Scientists think that there will be more stars of the size of our sun. These will not cause any super or hypernovas. They also believe that life will come to an end with a super or hypernova. But it doesn’t really matter, because if you see a hypernova close by, it’s already going to get you in the next few seconds. It happens so fast that you won’t even feel it.

Autonomic Nerve System

The ANS is an autonomic nerve system in your body. If you had to tell yourself to breathe, and your heart to beat, and your saliva to make watery saliva and and and... Well your ANS takes control of this all. It is located in your lower brain, mid brain and medulla. This is a specialized network that includes some parts in the spinal chord and peripheral nerves. This sends messages to different organs in your body. Together they make up the ANS.

There are 2 main systems in the ANS.

1. The sympathetic system is a system in the ANS that gets you ready for an activity.
2. Whereas the parasympathetic system relaxes your body and muscles.

Sympathetic

• Eyes dilate or widen
• Salivary glands make thick sticky saliva
• Tiny air tubes in your lungs dilate or widen
• Heart beats stronger and faster
• Liver increases the release of sugar into your blood.
• Your intestines lessen their squeezing action
• Your bladder relaxes to lessen need to pee(that's why I like the sympathetic system ;)

Parasympathetic

• Eyes constrict or narrow
• Salivary glands make thin watery saliva
• Tiny air tubes in your lungs constrict or narrow
• Heart beats weaker and slowly
• Liver decreases release of sugar into your blood
• Your intestines increase squeezing action
• Your bladder constricts and increases need to pee( This is why i don't like the parasympathetic system in our body :(!)

Zombie Ant Fungus

Did you know there is a kind of parasite called zombie ant fungus that takes over an ant's brain. This can be seen in some farms in the USA. Most ants go underground during winter but very few don't. This is because of that parasite. It paralysis the ant's body and sends out its own commands towards the limbs and the ant cant fight back. It makes the ant climb a blade of grass and hang down using its mandibles to hold on to the tip. The ant can remain like this for more than 8 weeks and is eaten by a rabbit. This is bad for the ant but good for the parasite. It then reaches adulthood and produces eggs. The rabbit then excretes these eggs. Snails then, stumble into these eggs.These eggs are eaten by snails. They irritate the snail so much that the snail produces a snot ball and spits out the parasite. Ants seem to love snail's snot. And this is how the cycle starts all over again.

My Sketches

Comment on them... tell me which ones you liked and tell me which ones you didn't. Give me suggestions :)

My Sketches.... These are my latest sketches of late 2011 and early 2012. Ranging from as old as Novemeber 2011- Feb 2012