There is no real difference between pigeons and doves. In the pigeon family there are about three hundred species. Some of these are larger and plumper than the others and have square tails – these are often called pigeons. Others are smaller, sleeker and have pointed tails – these are usually called doves. Of the many sorts of pigeons there …

The apes are divided into three groups: the gibbons, the great apes and man. Apes differ from monkeys by being more intelligent.

Intensive farming produces surpluses of crops and livestock for a farmer to sell for profit. Subsistence farming produces only just enough produce for a farmer to live on.

Most people recoil in horror at seeing a toad in the garden. Toads are certainly more ugly than frogs. They have large flattened bodies with dry, wrinkled and primply skins. The head of toad is blunter than a frog’s and its arms and legs are shorter. The toad spends most of its time on land and it is a slow …

Dandiya and Garba are the featured dances of Navratri evenings in Gujarat. Originated as devotional Garba dances, which were performed in the honor of Goddess Durga, this dance form is actually the staging of a mock-fight between the Goddess and Mahishasura, the mighty demon-king. The sticks of the dance represent the sword of Durga. Women normally perform it in a …

Antelopes, cows, goats and sheep have horns. Horns are composed of a bony central core attached to the skull and converted in a horny sheath. The horny sheath is ‘grown’ by a lair of tissue covering the bony core. Horns continue to grow throughout the life of the animal. (When people used horns for drinking from, it was the horny …

Sea lions have external ear-flaps, but seals do not. Also, sea lions can pulls their hind limbs forward to use as ‘back legs’ when on land. Seals cannot do this.

A blazer is for formal wear and a coat is for anytime wear. Formal blazers are generally made in deep shades. Coats can be made of any fabric like cotton, linen and leather. There is a slight difference though. Typically, coats form part of a man’s suit, while blazers are available without pants as you can wear them with formal …

A millipede does not have a million legs but it has twice as many as centipede about the same length – two pair to each segment. In spite of this the millipede moves more slowly than the centipede. It feeds on vegetation and often destroys valuable crops like potatoes, whereas the centipede is a carnivore and catches worms, spiders and …

The devil or ‘evil quartet’ is a sobriquet used to describe the four major causes that have led to the accelerated rate of extinction of species. These causes have been attributed mainly to human activities like extensive deforestation and poaching. These cause habitat loss and fragmentation, over-exploitation, alien species invasion and co-extinction. In the context of music, the word quartet …