Nature has created every life form, be it an animal or a plant, with some general features. Interestingly, she has also created certain species that flout her established norms. Let us try to put a magnifier on those aberrations in Nature. Most prominent of such aberrations are the marine mammals like Whales, Dolphins, Seals, etc. Those are aquatic animals no doubt, but unlike most of the species of the saline ecosystem, they do not lay eggs. They give birth to offsprings and bring them up by mother’s milk as the mammals on land do. On the other hand, there are certain primitive mammals on land, which are significantly different from others. They are oddly, oviparous; but once the eggs are hatched, they rear their babies feeding by the mammary glands! Examples are Platypus and Spiny Anteaters, found mostly in Australia and parts of New Guinea. Most of the fish species are red-blooded, which means, their life fluid is full of iron-rich haemoglobin to carry oxygen in the blood streams. However, a strange fish is found in the Antarctic sea which has translucent blood, that is, their blood does not possess haemoglobin. This particular species is known as Blackfin Icefish. Further, snakes are generally identified with their shiny scales, forked tongue, zigzag locomotion, no eyelids or ear holes.

 

A typical lizard species called Skink is often observed in our known surroundings which by its look and slithering movement exactly resembles the serpents, but has small legs, distinct eyelids and ear holes. Mammals are normally viviparous and unable to fly. They have been bestowed with bone structures suitable for survival on land. However, Nature in her vagaries has created a particular species among the mammals that possesses a light body and two silken wings for flight but with no other feature of the birds. They feed milk to babies like any other mammal and their bodies are covered with a thin layer of fur instead of plumes. Scientific name of the species is ‘Chiropetra’, known as ‘Bats’ in common parlance. Bats seldom come down on the ground and instead of beaks, have a set of sharp teeth to chew the food. On the other hand, there are about 60 odd bird species in nature which have soft feathers and distinct wings, but can’t employ them to be airborne. Examples are: Emu, Ostrich, Kiwi, Rhea, Penguin, etc. Plants prepare food by a complex chemical process called ‘Photosynthesis’ in which sunlight is used to convert chlorophylls, carbon dioxide, minerals and water into oxygen and energy-rich organic nutrients.

 

As such, they hardly pose any threat to the animal kingdom for nutrition. On the contrary, plants supply vegetation to feed and oxygen to breathe for the animals. However, in his book “Insectivorous Plants” in 1875, Charles Darwin had shown that there exist plants on earth which entrap tiny insects and sometimes small birds for obtaining direct nutrition. He illustrated with small plants like Cobra Lily, Pitcher Plant, Venus flytrap, etc. These plants have built-in contraptions on their flowers or leaves by which they attract small living organisms, glue them extracting a sticky resin, and then suck them in before the poor things get a chance to escape. It may sound like a horror movie, but a school of botanists still believe that there might exist monster carnivorous plants in nature, hitherto unknown, which are capable to devour up even bigger animals!