Mauritius, The Seventh Colored Earths

The Seven Coloured Earths, a small region near the village of Chamarel, Mauritius, is a geological curiosity and a major tourist attraction of Mauritius. This relatively small area of about 7,500 square meters comprises of sand dunes of seven distinct colours (approximately red, brown, violet, green, blue, purple and yellow).
The sands were formed from the decomposition of volcanic rock (basalt) gullies into clay, further transformed into ferralitic soil by total hydrolysis (chemical break- down of minerals by water). The two main elements of the resulting soil, iron and aluminium, are responsible for red/anthracite and blue/purplish colours respectively. The different shades of colour are believed to be a consequence of the molten volcanic rock cooling down at different external temperatures.

An unusual property of the sands is that they settle in different layers even if mixed together that gives the dunes a surrealistic, striped colouring. This strange phenomenon can be observed even on a smaller scale, if one takes a handful of sands of different colours and mixes them together, they'll eventually separate into a layered spectrum. The cause of their consistent spontaneous separation is yet to be explained. Another interesting feature of Chamarel's Coloured Earths is that the dunes seemingly never erode, in spite of Mauritius' torrential, tropical rains.

Photo credit

The place has become one of Mauritius' main tourist attractions since the 1960s. Previously, visitors wee allowed to walk between the sand dunes when visiting the park. Nowadays, the dunes are protected by a wooden fence and visitors are not allowed to climb on them, although they can look at the scenery from observation outposts placed along the fence. Curio shops in the area sell small test-tubes filled up with the coloured earths. 

Photo credit
 

Photo credit
 

Photo credit

 

Photo credit
 

Photo credit
 

Photo credit
 

Photo credit



Source

Reade more >>

The Amazing Spiderman Has Transformed To Lizard?

Photo credit

The Mwanza Flat-headed Agama is a lizard found in Tanzania, Rwanda, and Kenya. The lizard has an uncanny resemblance to the Marvel superhero Spiderman.

The head, neck and shoulders of the Mwanza Flat-headed Rock Agama is either a bright violet or red, while the rest of their bodies are a deep blue color. Almost fittingly, this delightful color combination is specific only to the male population of the species. The females of this Agama species are dull brown. After all there is no Spiderwoman, is there?

The Mwanza Flat-headed Agama can often be seen in the heat of the day basking on rocks or kopjes. Two years photographer Roy Daines captured an image of the lizard while on holiday in Kenya. Demand for the unusual pet soared soon after. Their recent rise to stardom has pet lovers and Spiderman fans clambering to buy the lizard as pets. Agamas is known to make good pets, as they become tame and docile if handled regularly. However, they require specialist equipment in the UK to maintain their temperature. They also require a special balanced diet of locusts, crickets, mealworms and waxworms. An adult Mwanza Flat-headed Agama can grow up to a foot long.

 The Spiderman-lizard is unable to throw webs, but can climb vertical walls just like its superhero brethren. Mwanza Flat-headed Agama can do another trick that Spiderman cannot – it can change colour. The brightly coloured males can change brown at night or if frightened. These colours may change again depending on the dominant male's mood. For instance, when male Agamas fight, their heads will turn brown, and white spots appear on their body.


 

Photo credit

Photo credit

Photo credit

 

Photo credit

 

Photo credit

Photo credit

  Source

Reade more >>

Mosquitoes Invasion In Russia

Yes, They are mosquitoes, millions of them that descended upon the Russian village of Mikoltsy near Myadel, Belarus, in the Minsk region on May 14. The mosquitoes were so loud that even cars could not be heard. Photographer Dennis Sour who managed to capture this unusual phenomenon said that although the swarm looked threatening, they didn’t bite. Such activity of mosquitoes is probably caused by the weather.

According to Tatiana Zhukova, director of the Naroch Biological Station, this is a natural process. The lake is home to mosquito larvae. When the larvae grow into adult they leave the water and come to land, where they mate and lay eggs. Large clouds of mosquitoes gather every year but they are usually not noticed because the windy weather blows away the mosquitoes. But on quiet and sunny days, like that on Monday, they become more than apparent.

Weather is known to cause weird behavior among animals and insects. Last year in Pakistan, rising flood waters drove millions of spiders up into the trees where they wove webs completely cocooning the trees.

Sources: 1, 2, 3

Reade more >>

Very Big Stingrays

As if having claim on the deadliest spiders, snakes, jellyfish, and octopuses in the world wasn’t enough, it turns out that Australia also contains an animal known as the “giant stingray.” Giant string rays have also been seen in the river systems of Borneo, New Guinea, and Thailand.

Very few sightings of this animal have been reported. It is thought that these fish are remnants from the ancient times; that they haven’t changed much in a million years. But why should they need too? While they don’t readily attack people, these animals can handle most threatening situations with the deadly barb on the base of their tales that can even penetrate human bones!

Now, the most scientists know about the giant string ray is that it’s giant (16.5 feet and 600 kilograms on average). They’re not sure how many are left, which habitats they prefer, or even where they commonly dwell. Think about that next time you decide to take a dip in the ocean.
Source 1
Source 2

Reade more >>

Tallest Model In The World

Amazon Eve, a successful American model and the tallest model in the world, reportedly 6 feet 8 inches tall.She has appeared on the cover of Zoo Weekly, published in Australia men?s magazine, with her extraordinary physique .News stories have called her “the world’s tallest model”. In high heels, she towered over the regular-sized model standing next to her. Barely reaching Eve?s chest, one would think the image was Photoshopped.

This the first time a woman of her size appears on the front of such a publication and to better show off her tallness, she posed beside a 1.62 meters-tall Australian model.

Zoo Weekly editor Paul Merrill said they had her bikini custom made.Eve lives in Redondo Beach, California. Born in California, USA, Amazon Eve has had a hard life dealing with her acceptance of her uniqueness of being a lot taller than your average woman. Although she has come out on top of all those insults and now is the great WOMAN we see today.

Source

Reade more >>