Eastern great egret (Ardea alba modesta)

Kuntul besar timur or great white egret or Eastern great egret (Ardea alba modesta) is the Ardeidae of birds and has the largest size in the genus Egretta. Birds like rice fields, mangroves, mudflats and lagoons to eat eels, fish, shrimp, crabs, grasshoppers and dragonfly larvae.

A. a. modesta has a length from head to foot 85 - 105 cm, the whole is white, the beak is heavier, long neck and is in the shape of 'S'. This bird stands tall and pecks the prey from above. Grooving through the rite dancing and chasing the couple. Flying with flapping wings is slow, graceful and full of energy.

When breeding has a hairless blue-green face skin, fine hairs on the body, yellow beak, hairless red thighs and black legs. When not breeding has a yellowish face skin, yellow beak and black tip, black legs and yellow iris.

Eastern great egret lives alone or groups in large colonies with other water birds to nest in trees near watery environments. The nest is built from shallow branches on the top of the tree. The eggs are pale bluish and breed in December-March and February-July for 2-4 eggs.

Kingdom: Animalia
Phylum: Chordata
Class: Aves
Order: Pelecaniformes
Family: Ardeidae
Genus: Ardea
Species: A. alba
Subspecies: A. a. modesta

Cogon grass (Imperata cylindrica)

Cogon grass ( Imperata cylindrica ) is a species of plant in the Poaceae, an annual grass, sharp leaves, long and scaly shoots, creeping underground, white or purplish flowers, very adaptive and grows in all climates. I. cylindrica has sharply pointed shoot tips that emerge from the ground, up to 3 meters high, short stems, rising above the ground surface. Leaves are long ribbon-shaped, pointed tip, narrow base, up to 100 cm long, very rough and sharply serrated edges, long hairs at the base and wide veins. Inflorescences in panicles, up to 28 cm long, spikes long-haired and white to 1 cm. The seeds spread quickly with the wind or via rhizomes that quickly penetrate the soil. This species grows in tropical to subtropical areas, elevation up to 2000 meters, temperature 20-40C, rainfall 500-3500 mm/year, pH 4-7.5, lots of sunlight to a bit of shade. This plant dominates open land, former forests, dry rice fields, roadsides and so on. This plant contains mannitol, glucose, sacharose...

Liberian coffee (Coffea liberica)

Liberian coffee ( Coffea liberica ) is a species of plant in the Rubiaceae family, a tree up to 20 meters tall, with numerous, radial and irregular branches, brown bark, and linear fissures. The leaves are oval, thick, up to 35 cm long, up to 20 cm long, shiny green, and have petioles up to 1 cm long. The fruit is round to oval, irregular, and up to 2 cm wide. TAXON Kingdom: Plantae Phylum: Tracheophyta Subphylum: Angiospermae Class: Magnoliopsida Order: Gentianales Family: Rubiaceae Subfamily: Ixoroideae Tribe: Coffeeae Genus: Coffea L. in Sp. Pl.: 172 (1753) Species: Coffea liberica W.Bull in Nursery Cat. (William Bull) 97: 4 (1874) HETEROTYPIC SYNONYMS Coffea abeokutae Cramer in Meded. Dept. Landb. Ned.-Indië 11: 286, 396 (1913) Coffea abeokutae var. camerunensis A.Chev. in Encycl. Biol. 22: t. 44 (1942) Coffea abeokutae var. indeniensis (Siebert) A.Chev. (1942) Coffea abeokutae var. longicarpa Portères in Ann. Agric. Afrique Occ. 1(2): 224 (1937) Coffea abeokutae var. macrocarpa...

A deep-sea isopod Bathyopsurus nybelini adapted to feed submerged Sargassum algae

NEWS - Incredible footage shows a marine species, Bathyopsurus nybelini , feeding on something that sinks from the ocean’s surface. Researchers using the submersible Alvin found the isopod swimming 3.7 miles down using its paddle-like legs to catch an unexpected food source: Sargassum. Researchers from Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI), the University of Montana, SUNY Geneseo, Willamette University and the University of Rhode Island found the algae sinking, while the isopod waited and adapted specifically to find and feed on the sinking nutrient source. The Sargassum lives on the surface for photosynthesis. The discovery of a deep-sea animal that relies on food that sinks from the waters miles above underscores the close relationship between the surface and the deep. “It’s fascinating to see this beautiful animal actively interacting with sargassum, so deep in the ocean. This isopod is extremely rare; only a handful of specimens were collected during the groundbreaking Swedis...

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