Animal Sonar

It's amazing to discover that the ocean is full of sound just like being in the middle of a busy city. There's a unique way for animals to communicate with each other and that is through sonar. Sonar is a system in which objects are detected by sound waves. These waves are very high in frequency and are called ultrasonic. Ultrasound waves have frequencies above 20 kHz. Few animals can hear ultrasonic waves. Some of the animals that can hear them are dogs, cats, porpoises, rodents, whales, dolphins, seals, sea lions and bats. Let’s have an overview on how some of these animals use sonar in their daily activities.

1) Oilbirds and some species of swiftlets are known to use a relatively crude form of echolocation compared to that of bats and dolphins. These nocturnal birds emit calls while flying and use the calls to navigate through trees and caves where they live.

2) All whales are capable of making sounds, and maybe of ‘singing’, but only the toothed whales can use sonar. The information they can glean from these reflections allows them to ‘see’ through murky water and in the dark. They can even see into the sediment on the sea-bed, and probably into one-another.

3) Bats emit ultrasonic sounds ranging from 20 to 100 kHz. The sounds are emitted through the bats' mouth or nostrils and are aided by a complex flap-structure to provide directivity. The echo that returns from such emissions enable the bats to pick out tiny flying insects from some distance. The bats can also determine the size, location, density and movement of an object. Thus, in a dark cave with stalactites and stalagmites, bats can find their way home easily.

Overall, sonar system are very useful to animals as it help them to navigate their way, detect preys and communicate with each other. The creation of Allah is indeed beyond human advancement. We are still new to this sonar system yet the animals are an expert user. Hopefully, with more observations, research, and creativity we'll be able to learn more from these marvelous creatures!

Ant and pitcher plant

I've seen ant and pitcher plant but I didn't know that they can work together. Last July, there's a flower festival in Putrajaya and I saw all kinds of flowers and of course pitcher plants. Surprisingly, there wasn't any weird smell emanated from them. Well, I guess they haven't had their meals yet. If they did, they'll produce some kind of enzyme to drown and digest the insects.

The next day, I watched a discovery about ants and it's indeed an exciting creature of God. There are 10 000 species of ants and another 10 000 more are waiting to be discovered. The ants body parts are divided into 3 sections; the head, abdomen and tail. An ant have 3 pairs of legs attached to its abdomen. Surprisingly, the spincer are multipurpose as ants can use them as scissors, to pick up food or as defense. The antenna can detect chemicals so it is easy to find ants' way home after a long day of labour. I learned about the way they feed like some kind of a "kiss" since they always eat their food in a form of fluid.

Apart from that, the ants have their own professional job. The workers or army usually sterile female that tends to the household chores from taking care of the eggs until those that provide food for the colony. The Queen's job is to lay eggs while the male ants have one sole purpose; that is to mate with the future Queen. After that, they died and a new colony is born.

When I Google about these two I found out that they have mutual interactions. The Camponotus sp. ants obtain food and nesting sites while preventing the accumulation of excess prey in Nepenthes bicalcarata.

The ant systematic community are so fascinating that I sometimes wonder even if small creatures can live together why not us? The answers are within ourselves.

The eagles' land

It seems that my holiday are almost done. Only a week left before I'll go back to BMI so I'm not going to miss another visit to Langkawi. Actually, I've been postponing the trip 3 times already which was really frustrating so I appreciate it very much that I managed to be there this time.

The sandy white beaches were awesome! The waterfall was crystal clear since I could see fish swimming in it. The best thing about this vacation was that I actually went for para-sailing. It was amazing! The parachute was strapped on my back, the boat sped up and the next thing I knew I'm flying! The view was breathtaking. My feet just dangled in air so I need to keep an eye on my shoes just in case they slipped off.

Unfortunately, a lot of my friends have been there a few weeks earlier so it's just me and mum travelling together. Sometimes, I felt sad watching the beautiful place unmaintained since Langkawi captured the ancient feeling of nature. The green forest are perfect to escape from busy life. I noticed some tiles were missing at Dataran Lang (Helang= Eagle). The garden seems unkept. The usual place I've been to seems to be underconstruction.

Hopefully, Langkawi will continue to protect the wilderness and maintained the investment from local and foreign tourist. It's a treasure beyond measure. InsyaAllah, if I have more opportunities I plan to visit there again.

Hadis rasullullah s.a.w

Dalam satu riwayat dari Jabir bin Abdullah ra sabda Rasulullah saw:

Apabila datang hari qiamat dan orang orang yang berada di dalam kubur dibangkitkan maka Allah swt memberi wahyu kepada Malaikat Ridhwan:

" Wahai Ridhwan , sesungguhnya Aku telah mengeluarkan hamba-hamba Ku berpuasa ( ahli puasa ) dari kubur mereka di dalam keadaan letih dan dahaga. Maka ambillah dan berikan mereka segala makanan yang digoreng dan buah-buahan syurga."

Maka Malaikat Ridhwan menyeru, wahai sekalian kawan-kawan dan semua anak-anak yang belum baligh, lalu mereka semua datang dengan membawa dulang dari nur dan berhimpun dekat Malaikat Ridhwan bersama dulang yang penuh dengan buah-buahan dan minuman yang lazat dari syurga dengan sangat banyak melebihi daun-daun kayu di bumi.

Jika Malaikat Ridhwan berjumpa mukmin maka dia memberi makanan itu kepada mereka sambil mengucap sebagaimana yang difirman oleh Allah swt di dalam Surah Al-Haqqah bermaksud

"Makan dan minumlah dengan sedap disebabkan AMAL yang telah kamu kerjakan pada HARI yang telah LALU itu."

InsyaAllah kita perbanyakkan lagi amal di dunia dan di akhirat. Sampaikanlah hadis ini kepada saudara seislam kita.

Fun debate!!

Firstly, I admitted that debate was exhausting. Nevertheless, it was a challenge to be more persuasive than usual.

My team went to RCMP for Unikl Presidential Cup 2010 for three days. In short, we managed to get into quarter finals which we were defeated by my own juniors. Well, the lecturers like them and only one professional judge like us. Anyway, I enjoyed the tournament tremendously and I owe that to my teammates, friends and teachers.

Unfortunately, I would not be able to join them next year in MFI. However, I might join the Australs for fun!