8 Times Sunday Magazine
guyanatimesgy.com
March 9, 2014
Times Kids Page
Flying Snake
The image of airborne snakes may seem like the stuff of nightmares (or a certain Hollywood movie), but in the jungles of South and Southeast Asia it is reality. Flying snake (Chrysopelea) is a misnomer, since, barring a strong updraft, these animals can’t actually gain altitude. They’re gliders, using the speed of free fall and contortions of their bodies to catch the air and generate lift. Once thought to be more parachuters than gliders, recent scientific studies have revealed intricate details about how these limbless, tube-shaped creatures turn plummeting into piloting. To prepare for take-off, a flying snake will slither to the end of a branch, and dangle in a J shape. It propels itself from the branch with the lower half of its body, forms quickly into an S, and flattens to about twice its normal width, giving its normally round body a concave C shape, which can trap air. By undulating back and forth, the snake can actually make turns. Flying snakes are technically better gliders than their more popular mammalian equivalents, the flying squirrels. There are five recognized species of flying snake, found from western India to the Indonesian archipelago. Knowledge of their behaviour in the wild is limited, but they are thought to be highly arboreal, rarely descending from the canopy. The smallest species reach about 2 feet (61 centimetres) in length and the largest grow to 4 feet (1.2 meters).
Did you know? Flying snakes are mildly venomous snakes, but their tiny, fixed rear fangs make them harmless to humans. Their diets are variable depending on their range, but they are known to eat rodents, lizards, frogs, birds, and bats. Scientists don’t know how often or exactly why flying snakes fly, but it’s likely they use their aerobatics to escape predators, to move from tree to tree without having to descend to the forest floor, and possibly even to hunt prey. One species, the twin-barred tree snake, is thought to be rare in its range, but flying snakes are otherwise quite abundant and have no special conservation status.
Dot-to-Dot The objective of the game is to fill all the blank squares in a game with the correct numbers. Every row of 9 numbers must include all digits 1 through 9 in any order. Every column of 9 numbers must include all digits 1 through 9 in any order. Every 3 by 3 subsection of the 9 by 9 square must include all digits 1 through 9.
please see solution on page 22
Find the Hidden Words
FUN FACTS
Whether you rely on your bike for transportation or exercise, you’ll enjoy these seven fun facts on this two-wheeled vehicle. 1. In 1817, Karl von Drais, a German baron, invented a horseless carriage that would help him get around faster. The two-wheeled, pedal-less device was propelled by pushing your feet against the ground. The machine became known as the “draisine”, and led to the creation of the modern-day bicycle. 2. The term “bicycle” was not introduced until the 1860s, when it was coined in France to describe a new kind of two-wheeler with a mechanical drive. 3. There are over a half billion bicycles in China. Bikes were first brought to China in the late 1800s. 4. About 100 million bicycles are manufactured worldwide each year. 5. Over the past 30 years, bicycle delivery services have developed into an important industry, especially in cities, where the couriers have earned a reputation for their high speed and traffic-weaving skills. 6. The Tour de France is one of the most famous bicycle races in the world. Established in 1903, it is considered to be the biggest test of endurance out of all sports. 7. Bicycle Moto Cross (BMX), an extreme style of bicycle track racing, became a sport in the 2008 Summer Olympic Games in Beijing, China. (Taken from ‘Bicycle: The History by David Herlihy’)