(In Pics) Curious minds explore and mingle with nature

Published: Thursday, December 5, 2013, 14:29 [IST]

Bangalore, Dec 5: An environmentalist by himself Prof Gururaj S, Principal, APUC took a team of students to a nature trail after giving basic tips of do's and dont's in the forest cover.

He explained the topography of the area and showed the different variety of trees in the forest. From Egyptian acacia to Indian neem tree, dying bamboosa arundenasia to diesel plant Pongamia pinnata and a Sandalwood tree to fruit bearing shrub, the students had a practical "see, touch and note" activity through the walk.

They also learned the danger of having a non endemic species like acacia in our forests and asked dozens of questions about the eradication of it. As the trail progressed the students encountered a dry bamboo which was in a shape of an inverted broomstick and asked the reasons for such a strange phenomenon as other trees were fully green in color during the season.

Principal explained the life cycle of a particular bamboo grass and told that a bamboo will die after sixty years by shedding the rice under it which generates a new blade of bamboo grass and how the life cycle goes on. He also explained the importance of having grass on the forest floor which helps in water percolation and soil protection.

In between one student witnessed a two broken eggs of a bird and brought to the notice of the Principal. Those were the eggs of the bird called Red wattled lapwing, which is in abundance in the surroundings of Acharya campus. Incidentally two lapwings made their appearance on the paddy field and flew immediately after seeing the walking crowd.

Asst. Prof Vidhya showed a plant which had the red ants on it. She explained the mutual understanding between the insects and the plants where in the plants supply the nectar to the insects and insects protects the plant and act as security agents.

It was a 5 Km trek in which students identified almost 10 species of birds, different variety of trees, termites, spiders etc and noted down the importance of every minute element of the nature.