Specials
Joke of the day
What tree grows on your face?
Tulips!
Poem of the day
Tigers in danger by Anirudh
The might tiger Is in danger The cute meerkat Ain’t fat A sparrow sings a song A crow chirps “Let’s sing along!” Then a man hits a gong As hunters gather along A crow chirps “I’m hungry” as they scatter The sparrow tweets “It doesn’t matter” A monkey says “Run for your life!” A squirrel says “They’ve got a knife!”
Quote of the day
Look deep into nature, and then you will understand everything better. —Albert Einstein
Animal and plant of the issue-The Poison dart frog and Willow oaks
Poison dart frogs
Introduction
Poison dart frogs, or dart-poison frog, or previously called poison arrow frog, are normally small, most reaching lengths of about 60 inches, while some grow to about 6 cm. They are bright coloured to warn predators of their poison. They are normally yellow green or golden, but sometimes they can also be brown, black etc.
Ranging from 150+ species, quite a few are endangered! And despite the name poison dart frog, not all are poisonous!(Most are)
Fact file
Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Amphibia Order: Anura Superfamily: Dendrobatoidea Family: Dendrobatoidae
Did you know?: The poison from 1 poison dart frog is enough to kill 10 people! The poison from a golden poison dart frog, can kill….wait for it……….20,000 MICE!!!
Lifespan:3-15 years
Name of group(When lots of poison dart frogs are together): An army
Scientific name: Dendrobatidae
Diet
They genuinely eat small animals(They are carnivorous), like mites, flies, centipedes, ants and termites. Even beetles! But still they have to beware of fire belied snakes, their predator. They can go at speeds of about 16 kilometres per hour, so hopefully they’ll outrun it!
Habitat
They normally live in parts of upper South America and half of Central America, in rainforest. Dense rain forests, to be specific.
Young
A female would lay about 10-30 eggs
The eggs are normally carried and when hatched they stick to mucus on the back of the parents, and the parents put them in a small waterbody with a certain type of plants, called epiphytic! Sometimes they get into territorial arguments and some frogs steal eggs.
The frog starts becoming a tadpole in the egg, when the egg hatches, it is a small tadpole, slowly growing, first developing small hard legs, and then the tail starts shortening, in the meanwhile the colour starts coming in while the front legs slowly form. After some time it is like a frog, just has to lose a small tail, until it’s finally a frog!
More
Wow!: The more bright and colourful they are, the more poisonous they are!
Beware!:The most dangerous of them all, able to kill 20 people, 20,000 mice, is the one and only GOLDEN POISON DART FROG ⚠️☣️⛔️
It’s okay: Don’t worry, they only use their poison if they are threatened.
Uh-oh: The fire-bellied snake has evolved to resist the poison, so it is the only poison dart frog predator(Good thing, otherwise, the frogs would overpopulate).
Danger: People are illegally trading them, threatening them!:(
Going further
National Geographic: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/amphibians/facts/poison-dart-frogs-1?loggedin=true&rnd=1668841916279
Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poison_dart_frog
Fact animal: https://factanimal.com/poison-dart-frog/
Brave wilderness:
See monthly report December for an animal card on Poison dart frogs!
Willow oaks
Height: Ussally 65-95 feet
Fruit: Acorns
Habbitat: Atlantic to Texas, in banks of a stream, and woodlands Flowers: Catkins
Predators(Normally eat acorns): Squirrels, deer, turkey, ducks etc.
Lots of people grow it in there backyard, or balcony but they are genuinely found in banks and woodlands. There colors vary depending on the weather, normal at dark green in summer, but as it becomes autumn, they become red, yellow or even orange! Spring they are yellowish green. Some species of butterflies lay there eggs of Willow oaks! In fact, flying squirrels(They glide, not fly but yeah….) live in there branches!
There leaves are thin and the opposite of round. Small, normally about 10 in 1 twig.
Message from the desk!
Dear readers,
2023! A new year! This is a new year, so new chances for nature. How is 2023 going to be? A better world? Will there be a change? Or will it be worse? No change?
Now you may notice the issues a little shorter. The last issue was long, but this is slightly shorter. Why? Because of less time. As we are going in higher grades it is getting a problem. I, Anirudh, founder of NPRO have taken 3 classes. For now, the issues will still come monthly, just a little shorter, but in higher grades, it will be a problem. Anyways that is 2 years away so we’ll think about it then. How was 2022? What is your highlight? Share it in the comments!
2022 was a blast for me! My highlight was the summer holidays!(More on that later)
Did the team you were cheering for win the World Cup? I was cheering Argentina. GO ARGENTINA!
I hope you are enjoying the issue so far! Why not share it with others who might enjoy too?
Thank you!
Regards,
Anirudh, founder of NPRO
Stuff+Games+Comic
Comic
Fill in the blanks:
Answer to monthly report December:
Q.R-b-i-s ea- th- - e o-n p- -p t- ma-e su- - n- nu- - - - nt- a-e l-f- o-t
Ans: Rabbits eat there own poop to make sure no nutrients are left out!
This issues one:
A- go- - - n p- - - on d-r- f-o-‘- p-i- - - c-n k-ll 2-,-0- m-c-
Tnih: Eht rewsna si erehwemos ni siht eussi
Guess the animals and plants!
1: Unscramble to find out its name:
nworc fo srnhto
2: Guess the animal with these 3 words:
Pod,Playful,Smart
Climate change+Animals today
COP27 was a go!
What is a COP?
COP stands for ‘conference of parties’ where leaders or great climate scientists from around the world come to discuss on how to stop climate change.
What happened at COP27?
The main decision that was discussed in COP27 was on funding damaged by natural disasters.
Antonio Guterres mentioned that we have passed the 1.5C degree agreement, at 2C. After COP27 there has been a slight reduction, but not yet 1.5C
About 35,000 people came to discuss about the effects of climate change in different areas!
An interview Dr.Chandni Singh(one of the participants at COP27)
About Dr. Chandni Singh:She is a climate scientist at IIHS, a big name in climate! She works on lots of climate change projects and is also the lead author of IPCC’s assessment report 6 in 2022 about ‘Impacts, Adaptation, and Vulnerability’!
1.How has the climate changed since COP26?
Ans: COP 26 happend in Scotland and had a lot of discussion about what countries are doing on climate change. Many things were discussed like country pledges on when they will hurt net zero but big decisions on climate finance were left for COP27. Developing countries wanted money, for example to switch their energy mix, but high-income countries pushed back because their economy was still recovering from Covid.
2. Are countries keeping up with their promises from COP26?
Ans: Not always, all the countries say they are going to do various things, but depending on their economy or when a disaster happens they focus on that, so theycan lose track of their long-term goals. There is something called Climate Action Tracker where people can see what different countries are doing. Many goals are towards the future, like 2030 or 2050, so it is often difficult see change in the short-term. Overall, there is progress but we need to do a lot more.
3.What were the main things discussed in COP27?
Ans: COP27 was the first time it has happened in an African country, in Egypt, so it was a big thing for an African country to take charge. One of the key discussios was around the idea of Loss and Damage, which is the climate impacts we cannot reduce or adapt to. All the ministers and countries were discussing this, and they came up with something called Loss and Damage Finance Facility to enable high emitters to transfer money to most vulnerable countries. The actual details of this and how much money will go in will be discussed at COP28 in Dubai this year.
4.What has India decided to do to prevent climate change?
Ans: India does a lot of things, in 2008 India had set up 1 big national level called National Action Plan on Climate Change or NAPCC and there India set out its vision. For example aiming that 30% of India will be covered in trees, currently it is about 24% and things like we will move away from fossil fuels like coal. We keep
on revising targets and making them bigger. India already experiencs a lot of impacts like heatwaves, droughts etc. so the Indian government recognises that we need to adapt. For example, we give farmers drought tolerant seeds, have models to forecast cyclones; all of this needs a lot of money that the government is investing. So overall India is doing a lot. But since we are such a big country with a lot of different challenges, we are not making as much progress as we need. Another thing to remember is that when we say let’s act on climate, let's stop mining coal, we must ask what will all the people who have jobs in coal do? If we move to solar panels, coal jobs will go, and the government has the tough job to make sure people have a job. These are big difficult choices.
5. What did you contribute in COP27?
Ans: So I was part of what is called IPCC, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which is a group of scientists from around the world. Every 5 years, the IPCC makes a big report bringing together the best science, and the report is given to multiple governments to help them make their decisions. In the big report launched in 2022, I had written about what climate change is doing to people across Asia and how we can prepare for it better. At the COP multiple countries up stalls, and the IPCC also had one. Along with other scientists, I gave lots of talks on what we can do about climate change.
6. How can we help prevent climate change at home?
Ans:So there are various things you can do. One is at a individual level, something you can do is make sure the things you’re doing don’t add to the problem, like eat locally grown food. Then you can think about making sure you are using public transport like buses. Other small things you can do at an individual level are buying less things. Making things need water and energy etc. to make them so it's better to buy new things once your old ones are damaged. These are small things, but a bigger measure can be voting for governments that are focused on strong climate actions.
7.Anything else you want to say?
Ans: I think NPRO is on the right track. The first thing for any climate action is climate literacy, meaning you should be aware of climate change, once you understand it, you can do something. Talk to people about it, ask questions, start a climate club, start a movement.
Written and edited by Anirudh
Posters by Anirudh
Lovely! Congrats on yet another issue!
Very nicely put together, Anirudh. I liked the joke and the riddles. The hint was also very interesting. Very nice interview with climate scientist Chandni Singh as well!