SALAMANDER

Salamander merupakan nama yang umum digunakan bagi gabungan 500 jenis amfibi dari ordo Caudata atau Urodela. Beberapa amfibi yang termasuk dalam golongan salamander di antaranya keluarga kadal air (Salamandridae), aksolot (Ambystoma mexicanum), mudpuppy (Necturus maculosus), dan hellbender (Cryptobranchus alleganiensis).

Lingkungan hidup salamander beragam, mulai dari kolam atau genangan air, rawa, sungai, danau, hutan-hutan basah, dan daerah rumput-rumputan.

Kebanyakan salamander mempunyai tubuh langsing, kulit halus, kaki pendek, dan ekor panjang.

Hampir semua salamander pemakan daging. Amfibi ini menangkap mangsa dengan bergerak perlahan ke arah mangsa, baru kemudian menangkapnya tiba-tiba dengan lidah atau menjepitnya di antara gigi-giginya yang tajam. Mangsa salamander kebanyakan serangga, laba-laba, dan cacing tanah.

Supaya tidak dimakan pemangsa, salamander memperthankan dirinya dengan beragam cara. Beberapa salamander mempunyai kelenjar beracun di sekitar leher, ekor, dan kulitnya. Salamander Kalifornia (Ensatina eschsholtzii) menakuti pemangsa dengan kibasan ekornya. Sedangkan salamander jenis lain justru melepaskan ekornya, yang akan tumbuh lagi setelah itu.

Fakta menarik :

Tidak seperti salamander yang kebanyakan bertelur di luar, salamander api meletakkan, menetaskan, dan menumbuhkan telur di dalam perutnya. Ketika lahir, bayi salamander api mirip sekali salamander dewasa, hanya lebih kecil.

Salamander merupakan binatang pemalu. Amfibi ini menghabiskan waktunya dengan cara bersembunyi.

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SNOW WHITE AND THE SEVEN DWARFS

Once upon a time there lived a beautiful princess called Snow White. Her mother died, and her father, the King, married again. The new Queen hated Snow White. She was jealous of the princess’ beauty. She always asked her magic mirror about who the fairest one of all was. As long as the mirror’s reply was her, the Queen was happy.

One day there was a handsome Prince. He liked to propose Snow White to be his wife. Knowing about this, the Queen felt furious. Then she asked her mirror same question. The answer was Snow white! The Queen was angry. In her rage, she ordered her hunter to kill young princess and bring her heart to the Queen.

The Hunter was about to fulfill his duties. But, then, he fell to his knees. He begged Snow White to forgive him. He told the truth, and asked the princess to run away and never return. Snow White ran into the woods. She was frightened and exhausted. Then, she fell unconscious. A few moment later, some animals awakened her. They led her to a small cottage for shelter. The cottage was very small and dirty. So, she cleaned it up. After doing this, she was tired and decided to go to bed.

Meanwhile, the seven dwarfs had finished working hard at a diamond mine. They were on their way home. When they arrived, they felt surprised to see a light on in the cottage. They gathered their courage to enter the cottage. But, when they were in the bedroom, they saw a very pretty girl lying in one of the beds. They woke her up and introduced themselves. They were Happy, Sleepy, Sneezy, Grumpy, Dopey, Bashful and Doc. Later on Snow White told them about her step-mother.

In the palace, the Queen had received the news from the Hunter. To prove the news, she questioned her mirror who the fairest was. Surprisingly, the answer was still Snow White. From the mirror, the Queen also knew that the princess lived in the cottage with the seven dwarfs.

The next day the Queen disguised herself as an ugly old woman. She appeared at the cottage while the dwarfs were on their way to work. She met Snow White. Then, she gave an apple which contained an evil spell. Snow White took one bite and she fell to the floor right away. The animals that witnessed it hurried to tell the dwarfs about happening. The dwarfs rushed to the cottage, but it was too late. The princess laid on the floor. The dwarfs decided to lay her in a glass coffin.

In the other palace, the prince knew that Snow white no longer stayed in the castle. He had been looking for her. When he saw her in the coffin, he opened the lid, bent over and kissed her. Slowly, Snow White opened her eyes. Only true love’s kiss could awaken the princess. Then, the prince carried her to his white horse. And they rode off into his castle to live happily ever after.

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RADEN SALEH SYARIF BUSTAMAN

Taman Ismail Marzuki atau yang lebih dikenal dengan sebutan pusat kesenian Jakarta, yang terletak di jalan Cikini Raya, 73, Jakarta Pusat. Tahukah kalian,,, jika pusat kesenian ini dahulunya merupakan kompleks vila milik pelukis yang bernama lengkap RADEN SALEH SYARIF BUSTAMAN ini. Di mana sang pelikis ini lahir pada tahun 1807, di Semarang. Pada 1817, dia dikirim bersekolah di Jakarta. Di sini, ia bertemu A. A. J. Payen, seorang pelukis bagi direktur pertanian, kesenian, dan pengetahuan pemerintahan Belanda. Bakat Saleh membuat Payen mengusulkannya agar di kirim belajar ke Belanda. Maka pada 1829, saleh pun berangkat dan ia menjadi pelukis Indonesia pertama yang belajar ke luar negeri.

Di Belanda, ia belajar di bawah asuhan dan bimbingan Cornelis Kruseman dan Andries Schelfhout. Dalam beberapa tahun, ia telah ikut serta dalam pameran  di Belanda. Setelah itu, Raden Saleh mulai menjelajah Austria, Jerman, dan Perancis. Ia juga pergi ke Aljazair bersama Horace Vernet, pelukis beraliran oriental yang mempengaruhi lukisan adegan berburunya. Pada tahun 1843, ia menetap di Dresden selama  5 tahun. Di sini, ia banyak melukis para bangsawan sehingga Raden Saleh mulai terkenal, sebagai pelukis potret.

Setelah malang melintang di Eropa selama 20 tahun, RAden Saleh kembali ke Jakarta pada 1851. Kemudian, ia mendirikan sebuah rumah indah yang kini dikenal sebagai rumah Sakit Cikini. Di Cikini, juga dibangun kompleks vila. Ketika pulang, Raden Saleh ditemani istrinya bernama Ny. Winkelman, seorang wanita Belanda. Namun kemudian ia bercerai dan menikah dengan Raden Ayu Danudirdjo, seorang bangsawan Solo. Pada 1875 – 1879, ia kembali ke Eropa dan setelah itu menetap di Bogor hingga wafat pada 23 April 1880.

Karya-karya Raden Saleh banyak dipajang di Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam. Sebagian karyanya terpakar ketika sedang di pamerkan di Paris pada 1931, dan salah satunya dalah karya besarnya yang berjudul ‘Antara Hidup dan Mati’. Beberapa karya lainya adalah ‘Merapi yang Meletus’, ‘Penangkapan Diponegoro’, Jalan di Desa’, ‘Banjir’, ‘Pertarungan antara Kerbau dan Harimau’, ‘Berburu Harimau’, ‘Harimau Minum’ dan lukisan potret seperti Gubernur Jenderal Daendles, Sultan Hamengkubuwono VIII, dan Bupati Majalengka, pamannya. 

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RAPUNZEL

A long time ago, there lived a young couple, a man and his wife. His wife was expecting their baby. She wanted a plant that only grew in her neighbor’s garden. She wanted it so much. She even intended to steal it herself, but later on, she sent her husband to steal it. Unfortunately, mother gothel, the owner of the garden, caught him doing it. She was a witch. Then, mother gothel forced the couple to give their first baby to her.

A few months later, the baby was born. It was a girl and named Rapunzel. Soon, this baby was taken away to live with mother gothel. Rapunzel grew to be a beautiful young girl with her long goldy hair. She, at first, was cared in a normal way. When she reached puberty, she was locked in a tower so that she would never leave Mother Gothel. The tower stood in the forest. It could only be entered by climbing on Rapunzel’s long hair. To cheer herself up, she loved to sing.

One day, a young prince was out hunting. He stumbled upon the tower. He heard Rapunzel’s beautiful voice. He decided that he must meet her. He spied and, by watching Mother Gothel, learned the words he had to say to have Rapunzel drop her hair. The prince visited her often and the two fell in love.

Then, Rapunzel made a plan to escape from the tower. She wanted to be with the prince. She asked the prince to bring her a skein of silk each time he visited. She might weave a ladder for her escape. Unfortunately, Mother Gothel caught on. Then, she banished Rapunzel to the desert. She threw the prince from the tower into a thorny bush. The thorns made the prince blind and he roamed the earth searching for his love.

Eventually, they found each other, and the prince’s eyes were healed by Rapunzel’s tears of happiness.

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BEAUTY AND THE BEAST

Once upon a time, there was a prince. He lived in a castle in France.

One day a woman came to his castle. She was old and ugly. The prince didn’t like her and sent her away.

After the prince sent the woman away, she turned into a beautiful fairy. She cursed the prince and his castle. The prince became a beast. He was very ugly now. All his servants became furniture. The prince could be a human again if a woman fell in love with him.

Meanwhile, on the other of mountain, there lived a girl. Her name was Belle. She lived with her father, Maurice.

One day, Maurice traveled past the castle. It was raining very hard he came into the castle. When the beast saw him, he captured him.

Belle was so worried because her father didn’t come back. She began to look for him. She arrived in the castle and she found her father there. Belle agreed to stay in the castle so that her father could go home.

First, Belle didn’t like the Beast because he was mean. Then, slowly he changed. He was not mean anymore. Belle began to like him and finally she fell in love with him.

Right after she declared her love to the Beast the spell was broken. The Beast and his servants became human again. The Beast and Belle got married. They lived happily ever after.

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ULAR PITON

Semua jenis ular dalam keluarga piton(Phytonidae) merupakan pemburu dan pemakan daging. Keluarga ini melumpuhkan mangsa dengan melilit dan mencekiknya sampai mati lemas, baru kemudian menelannya bulat-bulat. Mangsanya katak, tikus, kijang, dan buaya.

Beberapa jenis piton, termasuk ular terpanjang di dunia. Contohnya ular piton raja (Python reticulatus), dari Asia Tenggara dan Semenanjung Malaysia, dengan panjang sampai 10 meter. Kerabat dekatnya, ular piton karang India (Phyton molurus) tumbuh sampai 7,5 meter.

Kebanyakan piton memiliki alat pendeteksi panas yang terletak di lidah dan mulutnya. Organ ini berguna untuk mendeteksi panas yang dikeluarkan oleh mangsa atau objek lain, yang umumnya lebih panas dari pada lingkungan sekitar.

Kalau kebanyakan ular meninggalkan telurnya setelah dikeluarkan, tidak begitu dengan piton. Piton betina akan menjaga dan mengerami telurnya. Secara terus-menerus, induk ini akan bergerak perlahan, melingkar di atas telur-telurnya. Tujuannya supaya telur piton mendapat kehangatan. 

 Fakta Menarik : 

·         Dalam mitologi Yunani, ular dikaitkan dengan kematian dan musuh berbahaya. Contohnya Medusa, seorang perempuan Yunani berambut ulat. Menurut cerita, ia dapat membunuh manusia dengan tatapan matanya.

·         Untuk menarik mangsa ke dalam kerongkongannya, rahang bawah ular bekerja secarah terpisah. Salah satu sisi menarik terlebih dulu, kemudian diikuti oleh sisi yang lain.

·         Sealain bekerja secara terpisah, rahang bawah ular bisa terlepas dari tengkoraknya

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