CULTURAL QA 10-2023-29 All the BELOW QA are from Quora digest to me on 29-10- 2023.
Quora answers need not be 100% correct answers .Compiled and posted byR. Gopala krishnan, on 29-10-2023 Q1 Does New Zealand have wild parrots? A1 Gary Meaney, passionate fan of allthings animal Aug 7 Some 82 millionyears ago,theislands of New Zealand split off from the vast southern supercontinent, Gondwana. Ever since, they have been surrounded by endlessmiles of ocean on all sides, inaccessible to all land-dwelling mammals. Instead, it was the birds who made New Zealand their domain.Myriad incredibly uniqueforms of birds call this place home, including a whole family of parrotspecies which are found nowhere else on Earth: the aptly named New Zealandparrots. There are three living species ofNew Zealand parrot, along with a host of others whichhave unfortunately gone extinct, some due to human activity. The most iconic species isundoubtedly the kākāpō. This wonderfulfeathered friend is one of the most unique birds on the planet. Due to the absence of predatorymammals on New Zealand, the kākāpō’s ancestors had little need for the abilityto fly, and as such, it is now the world’s only flightless parrot.Its ground-dwelling lifestyle allows it to carry much more body fat than yourtypical bird, so it’s also the world’slargest parrot. Oh yeah, and it’s possibly theworld’s longest-lived bird, as it can live to the age of 100! Though not much of a flyer, the kākāpō is an adept climber,using its powerful talons to scale even the tallest trees. Its wings still havesome function as a “parachute”, allowing it to float down to the forest floorshould it fall from the canopy. It’d be an easy meal for any carnivorousmammal, but nevertheless it’s well-adapted to evade the eagle-eyed giant birdsof prey of New Zealand, covered in mottled green plumage that camouflages it inthe undergrowth. Seen as it is flightless, these feathers don’t need to beultra-rigid for aerodynamics, like those of most birds - rather,they are soft and plush! If you look closely at the photos, you might alsonotice a special type of feathers emanating from the kākāpō’s face: fine,whiskery structures known as vibrissae. Bizarrely for a parrot, this species isnocturnal, and may use its vibrissae to navigate at night, as well as itspowerful hearing. The twin bowl-shaped discs on its face are for funnelingsound into its ears. The kākāpō is a herbivore, feeding solely on plantmatter, and this is almost unheard of among birds. Vegetation is tough to digest and yields apitiful amount of nutrients, after all. However, since it doesn’t fly, theparrot leads a much more inactive lifestyle than most avians, and thus doesn’tneed as many nutrients. Italso has fermenting bacteria in its stomach to aid digestion, which maybe the culprit behind its distinctive sweet, honey-like smell. One type of flora is of particular importance to thekākāpō: the fruit of the rimu tree. Once every five years, rimu trees throughout the forests of New Zealand become festooned withberries, rich in vitamin D. This fruit bonanza triggers the parrots’ mating season,and all the males set to work immediately in the hopes of attracting a suitor.Each male constructs a “lek”; a circular courtship arena dug some 10centimetres into the topsoil. The shape of the lek reflects sound waves, thusamplifying his mating calls, which echo in the night for hours on end. He’ll start withquiet grunts, and, as the sac in his chest begins to inflate, build up, untileach call is a thundering “boom” that can be heard five kilometres away. Then,to finish the song, a final note - a high-pitched resonant “ching!”. Rinse andrepeat. If he’s lucky, he’ll attract an interested female to his lek, at whichpoint he’ll perform an elaborate courtship routine. Mating is especiallyimportant now, as the kākāpō is critically endangered, with less than 250living individuals. As explained, the kākāpō is not the only member ofthe New Zealand parrot family. Also in this group we find the kea.Historically, this bird was found across all the islands’ various habitats.However, when humans introduced mammalian predators, the lowlands becameunsafe, and the keas weredriven up to the high mountains. This makes them the world’s only alpineparrots! Unlike itsflightless cousin, which has a very specialised diet, the keawill eat just about anything it can get its beak on; it’s an opportunisticomnivore. In addition to a range of berries, roots, plants and such, ithas an appetite for meat, feeding on insects, carrion, small mammals, andseabird chicks. In fact, theseparrots are far more vicious than they appear. Some keashave been known to attack and kill fully-grown sheep, a habit which hashistorically made the species quite controversial in New Zealand.However, we now know that this is a learned behaviour, seen only in scatteredindividuals who have figured out the hunting strategy themselves, and is notcharacteristic of the whole population. This capacity forlearning is part of what makes the kea so interesting. It is an exceptionallyintelligent and curious bird, rivaling most primates in terms of cognitiveabilities. Experimentshave shown they have an understanding of probability in a way that no otheranimal we know of does. In the wild, they’ve been observed using tools -for example, one kea was seen using a pebble in its beak for grooming purposes. Though their muddyolive-green plumage might not be spectacular at first, when they open theirwings and take flight, they reveal a kaleidoscope of dazzling colours. Therump, as well as the undersides of the wings, are brilliant red, while the tailand outer wing feathers are turquoise. The kea’s closest cousin, the kākā,represents the third and final living species in the New Zealand parrot family. It’s more of aforest-dweller than a mountain-dweller, and as such is darker in colour,but otherwise it looks quite similar to its alpine brethren. In fact, wherethey do overlap, the two species often fly together in mixed flocks! In their search forfood (insects and sap, for example), kākās use their strong beaks to tear thebark off old trees. The stripped trees are of coursemore exposed and vulnerable to disease, so this process expedites their death.This may sound like a bad thing, but it’s actually a crucial role kākās play intheir ecosystem. In killingoff old trees, they make way for new growth, and ensure constant forestregeneration. The rest of thespecies in this fascinating family sadly can’t be seen anywhere other than amuseum. There were once two more species of kākā, butthey went extinct in the 17th and 19th centuries respectively, due to huntingby native Polynesians and later European settlers. Peer even deeperinto the fossil record and one finds an altogether more exciting New Zealandparrot species: Heracles. The mythological name may sound dramatic, but it’sapt, because as far as we know this was the largest parrot that ever lived.Roaming the forest floor some 16 million years ago, it stood almost a metretall. Basically, a kākāpō on steroids. So that’s everything you need to know about the New Zealandparrots! Note that they are not the onlyparrots found in the country, “New Zealand parrot” just a term applied to theirspecific taxonomic family. The islands are in fact home to nine species of wildparrot not found anywhere else on Earth! Q2 Can you mention about the strangest bifurcationsin the animal kingdom? A2 Jai Narayan,14h There’s a disproportionate number of male fossils when itcomes to mammals. To the tune of70–75% with some species. They don’t know exactly why. There’s a number of theories, among them is malerecklessness. Malesare programmed to go out and take more risks, to seek out new lands andfemales. Tangent to this, we often get ourselves in trouble.Oneexample is tar pits, where male mammoths are much more common. They see this male recklessnessin male elephants in Africa as well. Among the fossils,they were also much more likely to find male bison than female bison. The lead researcherfrom the Swedish Natural History Museum, Patrícia Pečnerová, iterated that thistype of stuff is very speculative as we weren’t there to watch these eventshappen. But, there is some educated guessing here.And being a male myself, and knowing a few along the way, it doesn’t surpriseme that males are the ones getting buried in lavaand rocks on accident. Q3 Is it safe to drink pure water straightfrom a mountain stream? A3 Lostinspace1205,Updated 1y I did once from a mountainspring running through rocks from the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia and became severely ill for nearly a week. One site reads:“Water from mountain springs often contains more minerals than surface water (lakes and rivers ) as itpicks up minerals from rocks and other elements. Water with high mineralcontent such as magnesium, calcium, sodium, and iron is beneficial to ourhealth in the long term.” Another site: “Drinking untreated water from streams and rivers greatlyincreases your chance of getting an infection and becoming ill.” No matter howpristine a mountain stream looks, it can still be filled with tiny pathogens.” Caveat Utilitor. I suppose one’s gastrointestinal system can becomeaccustomed to mountain spring water over time.Many of us in big cities are used to drinking tap (from city water reservoirs)and bottled water (In the bottled water, bacterial counts ranged from less than0.01 to 4,900 colonies per milliliter. Six bottled glasses of water hadbacteria counts of 1,500 to 4,900 colonies per milliliter vs. tap watercontained loads of infectious bacteria) which contains certain organisms thatare well adjusted to our system. The stream water I drank had the most wonderfulcrystal-clean flavor I have ever tasted, too bad it caused me severe diarrhea. On another note:While visiting family in Medellin, Colombia, a restaurant offered to serve me “fresh” water, “from our ownwell”, beamed the waiter. But I remembered there was alarge city cemetery nearby and having read that well water is typicallycontaminated by the decayed corpses especially following a heavy downpour. “No gracias” I replied, and ordered a Heinekendespite my dislike for beer. Q4 Sri Radha has Ashta sakhis. Rukminiincluding other wives of Lord Krishna are Ashta Bharya. Do you not thinksomething similar here? A4 Abhinav Keshav, Indology Enthusiastand Follower of Sanatana Dharma23h Yes, I find similarity in these. Lakshmi Devi number is 8(Ashta). Lord Vishnu's mantra is Ashtakshari (eight syllables) Mantra. LakshmiDevi is also widely worshipped as Ashta Lakshmi. Radharani has Ashta Sakhis. Lord Krishna hadAshta Bharyas. Rukmini Devi was the first wife among Ashta Bharyas of LordKrishna. Lakshmi Devi is widely worshipped as Ashta Lakshmithroughout India. She presides over eight sources of wealth in these eightforms — spirituality, material wealth, agriculture,royalty, knowledge, courage, progeny, and victory Lakshmi Devi numberis eight. When we drawmandala of Lakshmi Devi we draw Ashta Dala Padma (eight petals lotus). Lord Krishna was born on Ashtami.So we celebrate Janmashtami. RukhminiDevi was also born on Ashtami. Radharani was also born on Ashtami. Durga Devi (Lakshmi Devi’s another form) wasalso born on Ashtami thiti to Yashoda as Yogamaya.When Devi Yogmaya warned Kamsa she was eight armed. Flying off from(the grip of) of hands, she rose up to the sky and (stationing herself in thesky), the younger sisterof Kṛṣṇa manifested herself as a goddesswith eight mighty arms wielding weapons. She wasadorned with heavenly garlands, garments, pigments, jewelled ornaments andwielded (in her arms) a bow, a spear, an arrow, a shield, a sword, a conch, adiscus and a mace .She was being praised by Siddhas, Caranas, Gandharvas,Apsaras (divine damsels), Kinnaras and serpents who offered her rich, sumptuouspresents.hagavata Purana 10.4.9–11 Jai Shri LakshmiNarayana 🙏ShriKrishnarpanamastu Q5 What is a story about monkeys? A5 Gopalkrishna Vishwanath, Loveswriting. No formal qualifications, of course, it's just a hobby for me.12h Here is one with a moral. A man wastravelling in a boat with his monkey.There was also a philosopher with otherpassengers in that boat. The monkeywas restless and moving all along the boat and not letting anyone sit in peace. The boatman wastroubled by this and was concerned that the boat would sink due to thepassengers panicking. If the monkey didn't calm down it would upsetthe boat. The man was worriedabout the situation but could not find any way to calm the monkey. The philosopher watched all this and decided tohelp.He said: " If you allow, I can make this monkey as quiet as a housecat." The man immediatelyagreed. Thephilosopher, with the help of two passengers, picked up the monkey and threw itinto the river. The monkey started to swim desperately to stayafloat but it was clear it would not be able to do that for too long.In the nick of time, before itdrowned, the philosopher picked up the monkey and put it back into the boat. The monkey wasquiet and went and sat in a corner and there was no further trouble for thepassengers from this monkey. The man and allpassengers were surprised at the changed behavior of the monkey. The man asked the philosopher: "At first it wasjumping up and down aggressively. Now it is sitting like a pet cat. Why?" Philosophersaid: "No one realizes the misfortune of another without tasting trouble.When I threw this monkey into the water, it understood the danger and the powerof the water and the usefulness of the boat." I think there is a lesson in this story for us India.Some Indians have been behaving like this monkey and need this “treatment” tocure them. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Thatha_Patty" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/thatha_patty/1612857855.209409.1698558614357%40mail.yahoo.com.
