Nature questions

The weight of modern flying birds does not exceed 20 kg (the European and African Great Bustards are the heaviest). The Indian crane is the tallest modern flying bird.

Ticks belong to arachnids, not insects. They have 4 pairs of legs, which gives up to 8 limbs.

The mulberry is a significant fiber crop in the history of paper. It was used for papermaking in China by around 100 AD. The paper recipe used by Cai Lun included plant bark fibres, rags and fishing nets. Early paper makers particularly valued Mulberry for producing high quality paper. Washi, a Japanese handcrafted paper, is made with the inner bark, which is pounded and mixed with water to produce a paste, which is dried into sheets.

An instar is a developmental stage of arthropods, such as insects, between each moult until sexual maturity is reached. Arthropods must shed the exoskeleton in order to grow or assume a new form. Differences between instars can often be seen in altered body proportions, colors, patterns, changes in the number of body segments or head width.

Watermelons are only 92 percent water.The title of most water-filled fruit or vegetable, by contrast, is a tie between the cucumber and iceberg lettuce, both with 96 percent water content. In fact vegetables win, hands down, in this contest as among commonly consumed fruits and vegetables the top eight are vegetables: cucumber (96 percent), slightly less; iceberg lettuce, celery, radish, zucchini, red tomatoes, and green cabbage.

Grass trees (X. australis) epitomise the Australian bush: they’re beautiful, ancient, hardy, thrive in nutrient-poor soils and respond to wildfire by flowering profusely. All 66 species of grass tree are endemic to (only found in) Australia and Tasmania. Its trunk can grow up to several metres tall and is often branched. The crown of leaves of X. australis will be almost spherical in shape.The leaves crown the trunk in a crowded whorl of long, wiry leaves. Grass trees are often very long-lived with some are estimated to be 350 to 450 years old.

Eel catfish is an airbreathing catfishes found in Africa. It grows up to about 33 centimeters. It lives in the muddy swamps of Congo and Angola. The main component of its diet are land beetles living on land. Scientists hope that the discovery of this fish will allow us to understand the evolution of sea fish to terrestrial animals in the Devonian period. Their hunting method is probably similar to the methods of early vertebrates.

The Bornean flat-headed frog (Barbourula kalimantanensis) is a species of frog in the family Bombinatoridae. It is a species without lungs and breathing only through the skin. Those frogs live only in the Indonesian part of Borneo, in a very small area. Although many salamanders are lungless, the Bornean flat-headed frog is the first frog known to have no lungs.

Lawsonia inermis, also known as hina, the henna tree, the mignonette tree, and the Egyptian privet, is a flowering plant and the sole species of the genus Lawsonia. It is the source of the dye henna used to dye skin, hair and fingernails, as well as fabrics including silk, wool and leather. The henna plant is native to northern Africa, western and southern Asia, and northern Australia, in semi-arid zones and tropical areas.

Formerly Russula mairei and commonly known as the beechwood sickener. Is a basidiomycete mushroom of the genus Russula. This group of mushrooms are noted for their brittle gills and bright colours. Russula nobilis is inedible, and probably poisonous in quantity, but not deadly.