Asian house gecko (Hemidactylus frenatus)

Asian house gecko (Hemidactylus frenatus) is an animal species in Gekkonidae, a medium sized reptile, up to 12 cm long, has a black phase, is nocturnal, lives mixed with other species in Gekkonidae in trees, wooden structures in houses and shrubs in the yard.

H. frenatus has a relatively short snout, dorsal gray and whitish and mottled or blackish. Ventral white or slightly yellowish in color. It has no skin tufts on the sides and legs. The tail is round with rows of soft, white skin spikes.

The scales are shaped like fine round spots on the dorsal side and come in various sizes. Having rash arranged in rows is rather rare. Two faint lines on each side of the body from the waist to the hips and a line above the hips.

Rows of soft thorn-like nodules on each side of the tail. A pair of anal pores at the base of the tail at the back of the anus. The tail is slightly reddish orange on the underside towards the tip. Wide scales on the underside of the tail.

The black phase is dorsal black with a whitish band on either side of the lateral from the tip of the snout around the nose to back over the eyes over the tympanum and shoulders, widening at the sides of the body to end around the hips. Paired whitish patches on back, vertebral patches in elongated shape. Striped legs and tail.

The Asian house gecko lives in large trees, woody parts of the house and shrubs in the yard. These reptiles prey on small insects, especially at night.

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Subphylum: Vertebrata
Class: Reptilia
Order: Squamata
Suborder: Sauria
Infraorder: Gekkota
Family: Gekkonidae
Genus: Hemidactylus
Species: Hemidactylus frenatus

Humpback whales (Megaptera novaeangliae) manufacture bubble-nets as tools to increase prey intake

NEWS - Humpback whales ( Megaptera novaeangliae ) create bubble net tools while foraging, consisting of internal tangential rings, and actively control the number of rings, their size, depth and horizontal spacing between the surrounding bubbles. These structural elements of the net increase prey intake sevenfold. Researchers have known that humpback whales create “bubble nets” for hunting, but the new report shows that the animals also manipulate them in a variety of ways to maximize catches. The behavior places humpbacks among the rare animals that make and use their own tools. “Many animals use tools to help them find food, but very few actually make or modify these tools themselves,” said Lars Bejder, director of the Marine Mammal Research Program (MMRP), University of Hawaii at Manoa. “Humpback whales in southeast Alaska create elaborate bubble nets to catch krill. They skillfully blow bubbles in patterns that form a web with internal rings. They actively control details such ...

Devil's backbone (Euphorbia tithymaloides)

Pokok lipan or devil's-backbone or redbird flower or christmas candle or Pedilanthus tithymaloides ( Euphorbia tithymaloides ) are plant species in Euphorbiaceae, upright, evergreen, gummy shrubs, growing in tropical and subtropical regions. E. tithymaloides likes sandy soils especially with high concentrations of boron, copper, iron, manganese, molybdenum and zinc. This bush grows to 2.4 m high and 61 cm wide. Simple angiosperm leaves, arranged opposite to the stem where each leaf is sessile with a length of 3.6-7.6 cm. The stem has the tip of a handle that supports a group of flowers that are not scented. Bifid crown and ovoid. The involucral bracts are bright red, irregular in shape and length from 1.1 to 1.3 mm. Hairy male and female pedicels. Seed pods are 7.6 mm long, 8.9 mm wide and ovate with clipped ends. Devil's-backbone generally blooms in mid-spring in the subtropical region and in the dry season in the tropics. Pollination is carried out by ants and birds. ...

Thomas Sutikna lives with Homo floresiensis

BLOG - On October 28, 2004, a paper was published in Nature describing the dwarf hominin we know today as Homo floresiensis that has shocked the world. The report changed the geographical landscape of early humans that previously stated that the Pleistocene Asia was only represented by two species, Homo erectus and Homo sapiens . The report titled "A new small-bodied hominin from the Late Pleistocene of Flores, Indonesia" written by Peter Brown and Mike J. Morwood from the University of New England with Thomas Sutikna, Raden Pandji Soejono, Jatmiko, E. Wahyu Saptomo and Rokus Awe Due from the National Archaeology Research Institute (ARKENAS), Indonesia, presents more diversity in the genus Homo. “Immediately, my fever vanished. I couldn’t sleep well that night. I couldn’t wait for sunrise. In the early morning we went to the site, and when we arrived in the cave, I didn’t say a thing because both my mind and heart couldn’t handle this incredible moment. I just went down...

Dlium