Google celebrated ‘International Earth Day‘ by means of an interesting, informative, and interactive doodle. The doodle highlights the massive diversity that exists within the Earth by taking us on a tour of this great planet and showing some awe-inspiring flora and fauna from various elevations in the Earth. It shows some fun facts about six interesting animals and plants from the heights and depths of planet Earth.
It starts off with the ‘Wandering Albatross,’ a bird that is known to have the widest wingspan. This bird can soar to hundreds of miles without flapping its wings. Also called the snowy albatross, this is also one of the most far-ranging birds, covering a distance of 120,000 kilometres in a year.
The next item on the doodle is ‘Coastal Redwood Tree,’ the tallest trees in the world. Standing tall at 377 feet, they are as tall as 75 average humans placed atop each other. Found in California, United States, these are also known to be among the oldest living trees of the world.
‘Paedophryne amauensis,’ a species of frog from Papua New Guinea is next on the doodle. With a length of 7.7 millimetres, this is the smallest vertebrate in the world. Discovered as recent as 2010, this species of frog is just the size of a housefly and can jump about 30 times longer than their body size.
The ‘Amazon Water Lily’ is the next plant on this doodle. It is among the largest aquatic plants and its leaves can grow over 2.5 metres and can hold a weight of up to 136 kilograms! In its native Brazil and the Amazon, it grows all through the year.
The next animal on the doodle is ‘Coelacanth,’ a rare fish found off the east coast of Africa. At 40-million years old, it is known to be one of the oldest species ever and has been existing since the time of dinosaurs!
The last of the species on the doodle is the ‘Deep Cave Springtail.’ Widely considered the deepest land animals, these terrestrial animals live in the deep caverns of the earth. Because they live in total darkness, they are blind! They feed on fungi and other decomposing matter.
This brilliant doodle was created by Kevin Laughlin. On his choice of the interesting species of organisms, Laughlin said, “The last thing I wanted to do was feature animals based on their cuteness or how they might appeal in some way to my mammalian sensibilities. We tried to focus on having a good range of organisms from around the globe that all had an extra special unique quality or earthly superlative. (Tallest, smallest, oldest, etc.)”
Phew! Don’t these six species really tell us that the species on Earth are very diverse and that all of them must be respected and preserved? There are, of course, millions of other such breathtaking creatures that we are still unaware of.
On this Earth Day, let us truly strive to ‘Protect Our Species’ and ensure that we leave a great legacy for our future generation.
Happy Earth Day, folks!
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