Hunting mates

The crafty jackal is up to his usual tricks again. This time, it’s the lion who falls victim. Watch this video story to witness the episode unfold.

Statescan – March 16, 2019

Elections, research, awards….the country is buzzing with news. Get to know all that happened during the past week.

The dates for the 2019 General Elections have been announced. A species of snake that was considered extinct has been discovered again after 140 years. This and much more is happening around you. Read on…

Click on the hotspots to find out.

Sing on, little sparrow

March 20 is World Sparrow Day. Take time to know our feathered friends, and see what we can do to bring them back as our co-tenants.

Known by different names in different languages, this bird has a sound so chirpy that it can put a smile to your face. The house sparrow (Passer domesticus) belongs to the sparrow family. It is found in most of the countries in Europe, the Mediterranean and Asia. This widely distributed wild bird has also been “accidentally” or “intentionally” introduced in many parts of Australiasia, Africa and the Americas.

March 20 was declared as World Sparrow Day to spread the awareness that our feathered friends are fast disappearing because of the adverse effects of urbanisation. Celebrating this special day is an international initiative by Nature Forever Society along with Bombay National History Society, The Cornell Lab of Ornithology (the U.S.), the Eco-Sys Action Foundation (France) and Avon Wildlife Trust (the U.K.) and various other national and international organisations across the world.

“Bird Man” Theodore Bhaskaran says that the house sparrow “is one species that closely follows man, much like the crow. They are our co-tenants.”

It is a rare sight now to see the house sparrow in cities and in towns. The fast paced development, high rise buildings and apartments with their smooth and glossy walls are just one of the causes for their disappearance. Old houses had eaves, wirings and holders, which were perfect places for birds to build their nests and roost.

Earlier, provision shops stocked rice and grain in gunny bags that were placed outside the shops. House sparrows would feed themselves from that. But now, these shops have given way to supermarkets. The use of highly toxic pesticides is another reason for the decline of the birds. Unleaded petrol is one example, as its combustion produces methyl nitrate that kills small insects and worms that form a part of a chick’s diet. Home gardens too have largely decreased in number.

But all is not lost. Because of the growing awareness people are more concerned.

In India, sparrows go by many names, depending which part of the country it is. Here’s a list of names. Can you match it with the language?

How can we bring these little brown birds back into our lives? Here are some simple steps you can follow to help them on.

Winged wonders

March 14 is National Butterfly Day. These captivating creatures play an important role as the health barometer of the environment.

Stay near me — do not take thy flight!

Thus pleads the English poet William Wordsworth in his lyric poem, “To A Butterfly”.

Wordsworth calls the butterfly the historian of his infancy, and surely most people belonging to an earlier generation would recall having chased butterflies one time or the other in their childhood. This would have been in an age when towns and cities weren’t mere concrete jungles, and the countryside was unpolluted by pesticides and insecticides. Alas, human dominion has as usual broken nature’s social union, and these graceful winged creatures are now sadly on the decline.

In many cultures, butterflies represent the human soul. The Greek name for butterfly, ‘Psyche,’ alludes to the soul, and from it originate the terms referring to subjects dealing with the mind —psychic, psychology, psychiatry and such.

These nectar-sipping winged insects which perform the role of pollination, have been around for a little more than 50 million years. It is not only the gorgeous free-flying butterfly that has captured the imagination of humanity, but also the stages of its life-cycle. Their miraculous three-step transformation, from the lowly creeping caterpillar, the dormant chrysalis, and finally the emergence of the beautiful winged creature ; is often equated with spiritual transformation. has also captured the imagination of humanity.

Drag the slider to either side to see the butterflies in black and white or colour.

A mixed group indulging in puddling

Blue Mormon

Blue Tigers resting on migration

Common Banded Peacock

Common Bluebottle

Common Grass Yellow

Common Mormon

Common Rose

Common Sailer

Danaid Eggfly

Plain Tiger

Psyche

Spotted Joker

Tawny Coster

Yellow Pansy

By hook or cook

Try your hand and this crossword on cooking and food. How many can you get right?

The first meal of the day is important because it breaks the overnight fasting period, replenishes your supply of glucose and provides other essential nutrients to keep your energy levels up throughout the day.

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Across

1-9 :Eat this meal like a king (9)
34-38 :Shredded and pan-fried. Hash _______ (5)
43-48 :Direct source of Vitamin C (6)
66-70 :Bread that has been browned (5)
85-87 :Fresh and uncooked (3)
103-108 :Also called grain, it is any grass yielding starchy seeds suitable for food (6)
134-139 :________ and jam sandwich (6)
155-162 :You cannot make it without breaking eggs (8)
192-196 :A small portion of food eaten between meals (5)

Down

8-106 :Thick, creamy drink made from pureed raw fruit or vegetables (8)
29-99 :A semi-solid sourish food prepared from milk fermented by added bacteria, often sweetened and flavoured (6)
34-118 :Small, juicy, brightly coloured, sour or sweet (7)
38-66 :Tasty, convenient, and packed with goodness (4)
42-126 :Groats that have either been milled, steel-cut, or rolled (7)
87-171 :___________ and pancakes (7)
96-194 :A hot drink that's toasted for its health benefits (5,3)
134-190 :A loaf will do (5)

What’s the best foods for your first meal of the day? There are healthy options galore.Try your hand at this crossword, to find out.

Fifty years on track

The advent of the Rajdhani on March 3, 1969 revolutionised train journeys forever.

“I have seldom heard a train go by and not wished I was on it.”

~Paul Theroux, Travel Writer

Have you felt this way? There’s something almost therapeutic and calming about travelling by train. The gentle swaying of the carriages, the fleeting glimpses of cities and towns as you sweep by, a glance at homes, lives and neighbourhoods… it is the romance of the journey.

On March 3, 1969, the Howrah Rajdhani made its maiden run from the New Delhi railway station and arrived at Howrah Junction railway station in 17 hours and 20 minutes. Earlier, a journey by train on this route would take approximately 24 hours.

Scroll through these slides to discover more about the train’s fascinating journey.

Enticing elements

Celebrate the International Year of the Periodic Table of Chemical Elements with this interactive video quiz to learn about some of them.

The year 2019 will have a unique celebration – the 150th anniversary of the creation of the Periodic Table of Chemical Elements.

The periodic table is an arrangement of the chemical elements in a table, ordered by their atomic number, electron configuration, and properties. It was created by Russian scientist Dmitry Ivanovich Mendeleev.

Recognising its importance, the United Nations has declared this year as the International Year of the Periodic Table of Chemical Elements.

“The Periodic Table of Chemical Elements is more than just a guide or catalogue of the entire known atoms in the universe; it is essentially a window on the universe, helping to expand our understanding of the world around us.”

The oxygen in the air we breathe, the gold we wear, the carbon we combust to run our vehicles are all elements that feature in the Periodic Table.

In this interactive video quiz, the names of a few common elements from the Periodic Table are scrambled. Unscramble them and learn about their use in our everyday life.

Multiply your arithmetic skill

Multiplication finds use in our life without us even realising it! Take this simple quiz to see how well you know your tables…

Learning multiplication tables may not seem like the most fun thing to do, but once you learn them, their use is just limitless. Here are some:

Basic multiplication serves as building blocks to do higher level math like fractions and algebra.
If you plan to travel the world when you grow up, this math skill with help you calculate time, distance, and money exchange.
When you enjoy a freshly baked cookie, remember to thank the multiplication that went into calculating the proportion of ingredients.
How much interest will you get at the end of the year for the money you have been putting into your saving account? Multiply!

Now that we have managed to convince you of the importance of learning multiplication tables, take this quiz to see how well you fare…

Be a quiz master: The mighty dinosaurs

Presenting the first winner of the ‘Be a quiz master’ challenge. Find out more and take the quiz yourself.

In February this year, we threw open a challenge for our readers — to become quiz masters by creating their own quizzes. The responses were overwhelming.

Presenting the first quiz master in the series: Akhil Krishnan, Std IV, Hindu Public School, Hyderabad, Telangana. Take this quiz and see how many questions you can answer.

Visit Young World Club regularly for more quizzes created by the winners.