• If children rule the world
• Marvellous canopy of mother earth
• The giant cake
• Always in my heart
• Myself
• Let's protect a most precious resource - Stamp News 39
• Snakes and lizards - Nature Watch

If children rule the world

We would give all the houses facilities like phones,TV etc., and the houses will be near schools, hospitals and offices. We would build new cinema halls with nice funny pictures especially for the children. We would make nice sweet medicines for children and never bitter ones. We would create nature and history television programmes to help children understand the necessity of protecting our environment. So if children rule the world we would do our very best to try and protect our world and environment. So that everyone could live in peace and happiness.

By Shanuri Helmini Wanninayake,
Musaeus College,
Colombo 7.

Marvellous canopy of mother earth

Ozone is a triatomic molecule. It is formed by three Oxygen atoms.

Ozone layer prevents the earth from most of the sun's ultraviolet radiation. Indeed it is a marvellous canopy for all flora and fauna.

But today this wonderful natural canopy is in great danger. Although it was an eternal strength before, it is defeated now by destructive chemical compounds. Not only selfish man, but also every living being in the biosphere has to face tremendous danger because of the destruction of the Ozone layer.

Cloro Fluorohydro Carbons (EFC) is the greatest enemy of the Ozone layer. CFC is used to produce aerosol propellants, refrigeraters, air conditioners and so many other electrical equipment. So many chemical compounds destroy the Ozone layer by converting Ozone molecule into oxygen. So the Ozone layer begins to get thin. Then destructive Ultraviolet rays can reach the earth.

Ultraviolet rays disturb the photosynthesis of flora. Every living being depends on photosynthesis. So it is hard to imagine the future of the biosphere. Due to Ultraviolet rays plankton is destroyed and then food webs in the sea may be confused. It also destroys fish in the sea.

The destruction of the Ozone layer also causes skin cancers. It also destroys the immunity in living beings.

It has done a great service to the entire world. So we must protect this wonderful canopy. All of us must take heart for we must try and protect this sacred canopy as it is our only home.

For this is our paradise and no other planet can be as good as ours.

Udumbara Sewwandi Kumari Chandrarathne,
B/Welimada Madya Maha Vidyalaya
Welimada.

The giant cake

Monishka Senadeera
Gothami Girls College
Colombo.

Always in my heart

By Anudinee Munathantrhi
Vishakha Vidyalaya

Myself

My father's name is Thomas Emmanuel. Myfather is a businessman and my mother's name isAnthony Pushpa Rani. My mother is a housewife. I have a brother and a sister.

My favourite subjects are Tamil, English, Maths, Science and Religion. My hobbies are reading, writing and watching T.V. I like mangoes and chocolates too. My best friends are S. Janani and A. Dilani. My ambition is to be a doctor.

E. Maria Roxshini Emelda,
R.C.T. Vidyalaya
Navatkadu, Mampuri

Stamp News 39

Let's protect a most precious resource

By Uncle DCR

Throughout history, the oceans have been vital to human civilization as a resource base, as a route to other lands and other peoples or as an outlet for population overflow. Over 90 per cent of the planet's living and non-living resources are found within a few hundred kilometres of the coats. On or near these coasts live two thirds of the world's people. Without the sea, life on earth would be impossible. Our planet would be a barren desert.

The UNPA bulletin adds that for the human imagination, the sea has always been a symbol of vastness and freedom. Now, at the end of the second millennium A.D., competition for scarce resources is showing this freedom to have its limits. Growing demand is placing the marine environment and resources under increasing strain. History teaches us that scarcity can be the cause of conflict and war. 

In 1967, a call was made for international regulations to prevent the oceans from becoming a theatre for escalating conflict between nations, to halt the poisoning of our oceans through negligence and to protect its resources from exhaustion. The United Nations General Assembly adopted a declaration providing that all seabed resources beyond the limits of national jurisdictions constitute the common heritage of mankind. 

Fifteen years later, the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea (it attracted a record 159 signatures) provided the international community with an effective legal framework covering navigational rights, territorial sea limits, rights of passage, questions of economic jurisdiction, the conservation and management of living marine resources, and procedures for the peaceful settlement of disputes.

To mark the International Year of the Ocean, three commemorative sheets of 12 stamps were issued on 20 May 1998. One artwork was created for each of the three different sheets, each sheet portraying a lush and colourful depiction of marine life. The 32 cent sheet (depicted here) is the artist's rendition of temperate ocean life. The 4r F.s sheet (issued from Geneva) depicts the polar region oceans and the 3.50 S sheet (Vienna) illustrates tropical region oceans. 

The declaration of the International Year of the Ocean has been described as a celebration of this source of life and civilization. It is also a reminder of the need to protect this most precious of resources, an affirmation of our commitment to safeguard the rights of future generations for whom we hold our plane and its life-sustaining oceans in trust.

Snakes and lizards

Snakes

Among the longest snakes are the reticulated python of south-east Asia, which reaches ten metres and the anaconda of South America, which can grow to eight and a half metres. The shortest snake in the world is the thread snake of the West Indies which grows to only 12 centimetres.

The long body of a snake does include a tail, but it is joined to the main part of the body so that you cannot see where it begins. The skeleton consists of a long row of as many as 400 ribs, inside which the body organs are stretched out.

The mouth can be opened very wide to swallow prey, and is lined with sharp teeth, some of which may be poisonous fangs. Snakes have a long tongue that is forked at the tip. A snake constantly flicks its tongue in and out of its mouth, even when the mouth is closed. There is a notch in the upper jaw through which the tongue moves. Snakes do not strike with their tongues. The tongue in fact takes the place of a nose. It picks up odours and carries them to an organ inside the mouth known as Jacobson's organ, which detects the odours. In this way, a snake can sense food and enemies, as well as females and any rival snakes.

Although they have no legs, snakes can move easily over the ground, clamber through branches, burrow into soil and even swim if necessary. They move mainly by bending their bodies. A snake may bunch up its body and then straighten it out, gripping with its tail to push the rest of the body forward. Or it may continually bend its body, pushing against the ground as it does so to move forward. Snakes move sideways over sand in this way. They can also crawl without bending their bodies, using the scales on the undersides of their bodies to push themselves along.

Snakes live mainly in warm parts of the world, and mostly on land. Sea snakes live in tropical oceans. One species lives in the water all the time and bears live young. Other sea snakes come ashore from time to time.

Snakes hunt animals for their food, though birds' eggs are a favourite with several species. Many snakes simply bite their prey to subdue it, but others have poisonous fangs that inject a deadly venom. Snake venom can be poisonous to humans, and about 40,000 people die from snake bites every year.

Boas and pythons kill their prey by constriction. They grab their victims with their mouths, and then immediately wind their bodies around them. The snakes squeeze as hard as they can, not to crush their prey but to prevent them breathing and stop their hearts beating. Most of these constrictor snakes are large and they often live along river banks where they surprise animals coming to drink Others live in trees from where they can drop onto their victims

Having killed their prey, snakes swallow it whole. They open their mouths wide, and slowly gulp the body down. A snake that has just eaten is often swollen with the body of its victim.

Snakes either lay eggs or they bear live young. The baby snakes look like small versions of their parents. As they grow, snakes have to shed their skins because these cannot stretch.

Lizards

Of all the animals that now live upon the earth, lizards look most like the prehistoric monsters that once ruled the world. However, most of them are small creatures and almost all are harmless to man. The largest lizard is the Komodo dragon. This animal may grow to a length of three metres. It lives on a few small islands in Indonesia, the biggest of which is called Komodo.

Most lizards have long tails and four legs, though some have no legs and resemble snakes. Legged lizards can move swiftly and dart for cover if disturbed. The flying lizard can glide through the air by extending folds of skin along the sides of its body so that they act like wings.

Most lizards live in tropical and warm regions, and they are common in deserts. Some live in fresh water, and the marine iguana lives at the seashore, browsing on seaweed. Several lizards eat plant food, while others mainly feed on small creatures such as insects, worms and shellfish. The Komodo dragon is large enough to kill pigs, monkeys and even deer. Only two kinds of lizards are poisonous.

Lizards either lay eggs or they give birth to live young. 

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