Nature: Frogs and Flying Insects!

When I go to our village, I can see a lot of animals, birds and insects which I never see in cities. Fireflies (jugnu) come at night, Indian Blue Jay (Neelkanth) bird can be seen, I can spot a pair of parrots (tota) sitting on a tree nearby and in the end, “frogs” (medhak) popup every night. So, I was at my village and every night a lot of frogs would come out of nowhere and start hunting for insects. I wondered where they were all through the day; since they came out only during the night!

One day, I heard the sound of some frogs during the day time! I tried to look in that direction and I found that the sound had come from a packet which was kept on the stairs. So, the frogs were either inside the packet or below it. I removed the packet with the help of a stick. And I could see three frogs below it!

One of the frogs was bigger than the others. All three frogs looked frightened and within a few moments, they started moving and changing positions to find a safer position. In the end, the bigger frog covered the smaller frogs below its body! I was surprised to see how the smaller frogs were comfortably hiding below the body of the bigger frog; as if they had no shame! But in the end, I concluded that perhaps the bigger frog was the mother of the smaller frogs and that was why it was protecting them.

The other day my mother pointed out to another scene. A flying insect which is perhaps found mostly in villages near farms, had collected soil at the corner of one wall near angan and had covered all its eggs with it. After a few days, the soil became dry and then the flying insect would come and one by one made holes in the clay structure and took out its kids! We wondered how nature had given that small insect enough intelligence to know how to protect its eggs and how to take the kids out at the right moment.

Such small incidents point to fact that nature has given all species with enough intelligence to do the best for their children. There are very common traits which are common in all, but the willingness to make all efforts to ensure safety of children is a trait which is common in all species.

Hats off to the miracles of nature!

- Rahul Tiwary