KERALA PSC / BIOLOGY / THE KINGDOM OF ANIMALS / NOTES / OBJECTIVE QUESTIONS / STUDY MATERIALS / GENERAL KNOWLEDGE / KERALA PSC PRELIMINARY

 

KERALA PSC / BIOLOGY / THE KINGDOM OF ANIMALS / NOTES / OBJECTIVE QUESTIONS / STUDY MATERIALS / GENERAL KNOWLEDGE / KERALA PSC PRELIMINARY

KERALA PSC / BIOLOGY / THE KINGDOM OF ANIMALS / NOTES / OBJECTIVE QUESTIONS / STUDY MATERIALS / GENERAL KNOWLEDGE / KERALA PSC PRELIMINARY

·      Sponges (phylum porifera) are the primitive group of animals, nervous system is absent in this group

·      Portuguese man – of – war – a kind of jelly fish (coelenterate) cause great hazards to swimmers.

·      Phylum Platyhelminthes contains mostly parasites that live in other animal including man. Tapeworm and blood flukes are prevalent in places with poor sanitary facilities and unprotected water supply.

·      Nemathelminthes – Round work (nematode) contains in this group, hook worm, filarial worm are notorious nematodes parasites in human which are spread through insanitary condition or by vectors.

·      Wuchereria Bancrofti – A filarial worm lives in human lymph vessel and lymph gland cause lymphatic disease Elephantians (filariasis) can be effectively treat by using drug Di ethyl Carbamazins (DEC)

·      Blood sucking Leech possess anti-coagulant called Hirudin.

·      Earth worm (The annelid) performs an important ecological function by their mode of feeding – it is commonly called ‘Nutures plough man’, the encretory organs of Earthworms are nephridia.

·      Arthropods are animals with jointed legs and Appendages it include four major classes – Arachnida (Scorpions and Spiders), Crustacea (crabs and prawns), Myriapoda (Millipedes and Centipedes) and Insecta (all insects)

·      Arachindas have eight legs which include Scorpians, spiders, Miltes and Tikcks

·      Crustaceans are dominant arthropods of the sea. Prawns, Crab, lobsters are economically very important.

·      Millipedes (meaning thousand legged) usually have 70 to 100 pair of legs

·      Centipedes (meaning hundred – legged) usually they have 10 to 30 pair of legs

·      Insects are the largest class of animal, insects body consists of head, a thorax of three segment each with pair of legs (six legged) are pair of antennae, Tracheae for gas exchange and malphighian tubule for excretion.

·      Beetle has more species that all other animal life put together.

·      Several insects are serious pest of crop plants stored food and other products, mosquitoes and flies are vector of diseases in animal and humans. But some are very useful and productive to human beings.

·      Scavengers – These are insects which feed on waste material such as dead bodies, debris etc… Eg: silver fish, termites, houseflies, ants, cockroaches.

·      Pollinators of flowers – these insects help in pollination of flowers Eg: bee, wasps, butterflies

·      Productive insects – Honey bee and Silkmoth are important useful productive insects.

·      Bee dance – Highly developed means of communication found in honey bee – Karl Von Frisch won Nobel Prize on the work of bee dance.

·      Eriophyes guerreronis – This is serious pest of coconut palm casuing ‘Mandari’ and cause wide spread damage in Kerala. It was first seen in Ernakulam.

·      Mollusca second largest animal phylum. After arthropods, though soff-bodies molluscs have a protective hard shell, comprise of best known invertebrates like Snails, Slugs, Squids, Octopus.

 

Pearl Oyster

·      They are commonly found in seas around India, Sri Lanka, Japan, America, typical Indian pearl Oyster (Pinctada Vulgaris) lives in Gulf of Kutch. The Pearl is formed around a foreign object accidently caught between mantle and shell.

·      Echinodermata consist only marine animals such as starfish, brittle stars, sea urchins, sea cucumber and sea lilies.

·      Chordata means animal with Notochord either throughout or during early embryonic life.

·      Subphylum Vetebrates (animal with backbone) are grouped into fishes, amphibians, reptiles, birds and mammals.

·      Fishes are acquatic vetebrates with fins, gills, and scaly skin.

·      Shark and Ray are Cartilaginous fishes, they are all marine orgine

·      Study of fish are called lchthyology

·      Fishes have two chambered heart

·      Fishes are cold blooded organisms

·      Bony fishes occur in all waters

·      Fishes have very well developed sense of smell.

·      Bony fish include Flying fish, Flat fish, Sea horse, Cat fish etc…

·      Hippocampus (Sea horse) shows parental care

·      Two kind of sea cows are Dugonges and manatus

·      Gambusia is called mosquito fish

·      Etroplus (pearl spot) is a popular edible fish in Kerala found in estuaries, brackish water in 2010 it was declared as the official fish of Kerala.

 

False fishes

·      Silver fish – A wingless Arthropoda

·      Jelly fish – Coelenterata

·      Cuttle fish – Mollusca

·      Devil Fish (Octopus) – Mollusca

·      Star fish – Echinodermata

·      Real fishes – Cat fish, flying fish

·      The acquatic animal with most developed intelligence is Dolphin

·      Amphibians: Most amphibians have two phase in their live

·      Amphibians live only in fresh water no marine forms

·      The amphibians heart is three chambered

·      Scientific name of Frog is Rana Hexadactyla

·      Larve tadpole which metamorphosis into adult

·      Reptiles include Lizards, Snakes, Turtle all are creeping animals

·      Largest reptiles today are the Komodo Dragan of Indonesia (Lizard)

·      Reptile’s heart is 3 chambered but 4 chambered heart is seen in crocodiles like birds and mammals.

·      Lizards can break off their tail and escape a new tail is regenerated

·      Chameleon’s body colour changes to match its environment this act as a Comouflage.

·      Snakes are limbless reptiles, snake lack ears to hear, they have strong sense of small.

·      Pythons are large non-poisonous snake.

·      Sandbow has small non prehensible thick tail bearing a false resemblance to head hence called double-headed snake.

·       The common poisons snakes includes Cobras Kraits, Viper and Sea snake

·      Poison injection fangs (teeth) are maxillary teeth.

·      Vipers are viviparaus (gives birth directly to their young one’s)

·      Snake Venom classifieds into two neurotox is and haemotoxic

·      Poison of cobras’ kraits and sea snake are neurotoxic it causes death by paralysis of respiratory muscles.

·      Haemotoxins are typical to vipers. They cause tissue destruction and death

·      Antivenom injections are the best treatment for snake bites

·      Kraits are dangerously poisonous because their bite inject a very large quantity of poison (three times more than cobra)

·      Highest venoumous snake is King Cobra

·      Turtle (marine) and Tortoises (Terrestrial) are distinctive animals, sea turtles have limbs modified as flippers. Giant tortoises can be seen in Galapa Gos island.

·      Crocodiles and alligators have a four chambered heart

·      Aves (Birds) – Their characteristic features are the presence of feathers and the power of flight.

·      Archaeopteryx – a connecting link between reptile and birds

·      Birds are capable of maintaining a constant body temperature so they generally called warm blooded.

·      Bird’s heart is four chambered

·      Birds have a keen sense of sight

·      Humming birds are smallest bird, it can fly backwards, beaks of Humming Bird are thin and pointed adapted for sucking nector.

·      Swift: Fastest flying bird found in Japan it can fly 60 km/h

·      Albetros: large long winged sea bird

·      The heaviest flying bird is Kori bustard

·      Dodo is a recently extinct bird from Mauritious

·      Great Indian Bustard: A protected bird of Flamingo – a large bird with long neck and leg.

·      The scientific name Peacock is Pavo cristatus

·      Red vented Bul bird is called India’s nightingale.

·      Flightless birds are Ostrich, Emu, Kiwi, Cassowary, Penguin Tinamon

·      Mammals: Most important character of mammal is the presence of mammary gland

·      Egg lying mammals are Ptalypus, Echindna, Marsupials (pouched animal), Eg: Kangaroo

·      Flying Mammal: Bat

·      Largest living Mammal: Blue Whale

·      Flying fox is kind of Bat

·      Prairie dog is not a dog it is Squirrel Rodent

·      Pangolean is the animal does not have teeth

·      Porcupine has quills or spines to protect itself against enemies.

·      Rodents includes rat, mice, squirrel and beavers

·      Hooved herbivorous divided into two:

Ø Odd toed: eg: rhinoceros, horse, donkey, zebra

Ø Even toed: animals include cows, buffaloes, sheep, goats, deer, camel, giraffes, pigs and hippopotamus

·      In even toed ungulates or hooved herbivorous, cow and camel are cud chewing, their 4 chambered stomach capable of digesting cellulosoic plant material by means of microorganism present in first stomach or ruman chewing.

·      Elephant have padded feet no hooves

·      The animal with the longest life span on the land is elephant, while the animal having the longest life span, in general, is turtles and tortoises.

·      Blue Whale is the biggest and the heaviest mammal.

·      The smallest ape is Gibbon

·      Chimpanzee is the most intelligent ape

·      Elephant tusks are enlarged incisors

·      Fishes respire through gills

·      The vertebrate which has a two chambered heart is fish

·      Coprophytes are the animals which derives their food from faecal matters.

·      The organism which has the maximum number of ribs is the snake. The largest snake is the anaconda found in the Amazon region in south America.

·      Kangaroo is a nocturnal herbivore

·      Zebras are jockingly called “the ponies in pygamas”

·      The main chemical content of egg shell is calcium carbonate.

·      The animal found in the advertisement board of forest department with the heading “I have no medicinal value” is black ape.

·      Sanguivores are the animals feeding on blood. Frugivores are the animals feeding on fruits.

·      The Kangaroo rat never drinks water in its entire life.

·      Ostrich, Rhea, Kiwi and Penguin-all are flightless birds

·      Dodo (a flightless pigeon) which appeared in Mauritius is now extinct

·      The smallest flightless bird is kiwi, while the smallest flying bird is the Bee humming bird of Cuba

·      Growth of tadpole into a frog is called metamorphosis. Thyroid gland plays a main role in this process.

·      Cobra venom affects the nervous system and viper venom the blood circulatory system

·      A baby cockroach is called nymph.

·      Organism is called the ‘slipper animal cule’ paramecium

·      The organism which performs the sex transformation in crabs: Sacculina

·      The population of reptiles in maximum on earth

·      Saurology is the study of lizards

·      Ants go in a line by the secretion of pheromones

·      The tallest living bird is Ostrich

·      Silver fish is not a fish but a wingless insect

 

 

KERALA PSC / BIOLOGY / THE KINGDOM OF ANIMALS / NOTES / OBJECTIVE QUESTIONS / STUDY MATERIALS / GENERAL KNOWLEDGE / KERALA PSC PRELIMINARY