Giant 400-Years-Old Coral Reef Discovered

Friday, 3rd September 2021 Volume 5 Issue 239 www.mytcp.in

Giant 400-years-old Coral Reef Discovered Belongs to coral genus coral genus Porites, known for large coral groups Australia, Sep 2: Scientists and members participating in a marine citizen science course with Reef Ecologic discovered a creamy brown, boulderlike, large coral on the Great Barrier Reef in Australia. Its age is more than 400 years.

It is hemispherical, 5.3 metres tall, and 10.4 meters wide. The coral reef was found off the coast of Goolboodi (Orpheus Island), part of the Queensland

Palm Island group. It has been named Muga dhambi, meaning “big coral” by the traditional Manbarra people living there. It has withstood 80 major cyclones, 99 coral bleaching events, and centuries of exposure to other threats like climate change, declining water quality, Muga dhambi overfishing, and coastal developments. So, restoration Image Credit Richard Woodgett activities are recommended by the scientists to protect this rare, unusually resilient large coral.

Wild Cockatoos Make Their Own Cutlery

Cockatoos are intelligent birds; Study conducted in Indonesia

Indonesia, Sep 2: Only a few animals, including some primates (group of mammals including

humans, monkeys, and apes) and birds are able to use tools. Recently, researchers found that wild cockatoos, Goffin's cockatoos (Cacatua goffiniana) were able to make their own tools to open fruits. To their astonishment, the tools were being used in a particular order. To study this unique

behaviour, scientists went to the tropical forest of Tanimbar Islands in Indonesia. They observed the cockatoos in the wild and found some fruits with sticks sticking to them. To learn more, they took 15 wild birds into an aviary (a place for keeping birds) for a short period.

The birds were served their favourite fruit. Two of the male birds made tools out of the branches - a wedge, knife, and a spoon- like tool. They used the tools in order, first to split open, then to pierce the protective covering, and then to scoop the seeds out. Only these two out of the group of 15 did this. So, researchers concluded that it is not an innate(something that comes naturally) behaviour but an innovative behaviour seen in some birds.

Flag-o-pedia: Flag of Benin

By Amey Haldankar

Benin is an African country bordered by Nigeria, Niger, Burkina Faso, Togo, and Bight of Benin (a broad indentation of the Gulf of Guinea in Western Africa, more like sea of Benin). It lies in West Africa.

Description of the flag The flag of Benin is a tricoloured flag consisting of the colours red, metallic yellow, and Spanish green.

The vertical green band covers one-third of the flag and is located towards the hoist (flag pole) while the red (bottom) and yellow (top) bands are placed horizontally and are located towards the fly side.

What does Beninese flag symbolise? The colours red, green, and yellow are Pan-African colours and can be seen in the flags of many African countries. These colours are also a sign of respect to Ethopia, a country that was not colonised by the Europeans. The colours green and yellow are also symbols of the Grooves of Palm (green) and Savannah (yellow) which are found in the country. The colour red also refers to the sacrifice made by ancestors of Beninese for their independence from France.

History of the flag During the French rule in the 1950s, France imposed its French tricolour over Dahomey (earlier name of Benin and was in use till 1975) and didn't allow the people to have any flag of their own. However, as the decolonisation movement had started in Africa, France was pressured, and Dahomey was allowed to have its flag (this happened in 1958). In the following year, Dahomey gained independence and the present-day flag was adopted. However, in 1972, a communist party came into power

and three years later, in 1975, it renamed itself as The People's Republic of Benin. In the same year, it changed its flag to a green flag with a five-pointed red star placed in

the upper left corner. In the year 1990, the People's Republic of Benin was replaced by a democratic government and the previous

flag (1959 one) was readopted. Since then, the flag hasn't Flag of People's Republic of Benin changed. (1975-1990)

Editorial Book Review: Khushwant Singh’s

Big Fat Joke Book Dear Shining Stars, Reviewed by: Ishaan Kaila

Khushwant Singh was an author, editor, and Enjoy the edition. columnist. He ran a column called "With malice Love, towards one and all". -Vanitha & Nidhi The jokes in this book ranged from many topics

[email protected] and many types. There were satirical jokes, political jokes, foody jokes, etc. The jokes were very interesting and kept the reader engaged. I had Friday Winners not read even one of these jokes before which is Animal Idiom: Congratulations, Harshita an achievement since most jokes in other joke Goyal, Ipshita Kapila, NithyaNatarajan books are copied. They were new and and Anita Rosalind. unconventional. The book had a lot more variety Well tried, Aarav Patil than other joke books. Some of the jokes were meant for adults. So, I

would recommend the book to people above 15 Word Web: Congratulations, Anita years of age who don’t mind the occasional Rosalind and Nithya Natarajan inappropriate comment. Personally, I give it a 9/10.

Colour Sudoku: Congratulations, Anita Rosalind and Nithya Natarajan

Poem by Vashine Aswani

Up from the sky, The grey clouds drizzle. Is it that you shower us, Or, that your tears fall on us?

Flying from everywhere, Come the buzzing insects, Of which we all shall be aware.

Along with the rain, when comes the Sun, You bring the rainbow; amazing everyone. And yes, saved we are from the blistering noon; After all, from June to September, it’s Monsoon.

Fun Friday

Friday Quiz

1. Which ruler succeeded Bimbisara on the throne of Magadha in 272 BCE? 2. What unit of measurement, originating in Roman times, forms the distance covered by a thousand paces of a marching legionnaire?

Sports News: Tennis: US Open 2021

New York(USA), Sep 2: In the US Open 2021 tournament today: Men's Singles: Frances Tiafoe (USA) defeated Guido Pella of Argentina by 3-0 (6-1, 6-2, 7-5). Women's Singles: Sloane Stephens (USA) played against Coco Gauff (USA) and won the match by 2-0 (6-4, 6-2). Men’s Doubles: Simone Bolelli (Italy) and Maximo Gonzalez (Argentina) won the match against Cameron Norrie (UK) and Jan-Lennard Struff (Germany) by 2-0 (7-6, 6-3). Women’s Doubles: Darija Jurak (Croatia) and Andreja Klepac (Slovenia) played against Katerina Bondarenko (Ukraine) and Ankita Raina (India) and won by 2-0 (6-1, 6-1).

Ganpati By Nishit Kharadi Artist Corner by Ram Sundar

Credits and Answers Cartoon Corner: Funny Bunnies by Aakarsh Agarwal This edition has been reviewed by Jalpa Shah and Gunjan Sharma.

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