WORLD'S LARGEST EMPLOYER

Indian Railways (abbreviated as IR) is the world's largest commercial or utility employer,
with more than 1.6 million employees.

The railways traverse the length and breadth of the country; the routes cover a total length
of 63,465 km with more than 7,000 stations. As of 2005, IR owned a total of 222,379 wagons,
42,125 coaches and 7910 locomotives and ran a total of 14,444 trains daily, including about 8,702 passenger trains. All these make it the world's largest railway network. There are more than five billion passenger journeys on the railways each year.

Railways were first introduced to India in 1853 by the British colonial rulers. In modern India, Indian Railways is a Department of the Government of India, under the Ministry of Railways, and is tasked with operating the rail network in India. The Ministry is headed by a cabinet rank Railways Minister, while the Department is managed by the Railway Board. Indian Railways is not a private corporate body; however, of late IR has adopted a corporate management style.

WORLD'S DEADLIEST KILLER

The world's deadliest human killer is the mosquito. No, mosquito does not kill humans directly, but act as a vector agent that carries disease-causing viruses and parasites from person to person without catching the disease themselves. Female mosquitoes suck blood from people and other animals as part of their eating and breeding habits. When a mosquito bites, she also injects saliva and anti-coagulants into the blood which may also contain disease-causing viruses or other parasites. Tropical countries like india are their favourite hunting grounds.

Mosquitoes are insects which make up the family Culicidae. They have a pair of scaled wings , a pair of halteres, a slender body, and long legs. The females of most mosquito species suck blood (hematophagy) from other animals, which has made them the most deadly disease vectors known to man, killing millions of people over thousands of years and continuing to kill millions per year by the spread of diseases.
Mosquitoes hunt their host by detecting CO2 being breathed out from a distance. When they get closer they can also pick up on the infrared heat being emitted which identifies the host as a warm blooded animal.

Both male and female mosquitoes are nectar feeders, but the female of many species is also capable of haematophagy (drinking blood). Females do not require blood for survival, but they do need supplemental substances (like protein and iron) for the development and laying of their eggs. Prior to and during blood feeding, they inject saliva.
The mosquito genus Anopheles carries the malaria parasite plasmodium. Worldwide, malaria is a leading cause of premature mortality, particularly in children under the age of five, with around 5.3 million deaths annually, according to the Centers for Disease Control. Some species of mosquito can carry the filariasis worm, a parasite that causes a disfiguring condition (often referred to as elephantiasis) characterized by a great swelling of several parts of the body; worldwide, around 40 million people are living with a filariasis disability. The viral diseases yellow fever and dengue fever are transmitted mostly by Aedes aegypti mosquitoes. Other viral diseases like epidemic polyarthritis, Rift Valley fever, Ross River Fever, St. Louis encephalitis, West Nile virus (WNV), Japanese encephalitis, La Crosse encephalitis and several other encephalitis type diseases are carried by several different mosquitoes. Eastern equine encephalitis (EEE) and Western equine encephalitis (WEE) occurs in the United States where it causes disease in humans, horses, and some bird species.

WORLD'S LONGEST NAILS

Shridhar Chillal from Pune, near Bombay, holds the world record for the longest fingernails on a single hand. On 8 July 1998 the nails on his left hand were measured on the television show Guinness World Records : Primetime and found to have a total length of a staggering 6.15 m (20 ft 2.25 in). Since then, for the last 20 years, he has been a permanent fixture in the Guinness Book of World Records for having the world's longest nails. He does not grow the nails on his right hand.

Although Chillal is quite proud of his record breaking nails, he has had increasing difficulties with their weight, which has already caused his left fingers to become forever disfigured (and more or less useless). Due to nerve damage caused from the nails' immense weight, Chillal is permanently deaf in the left ear.

Sridhar, a retired Indian photographer who has grown his fingernails for almost half a century, has cut his fingernails in the year 2000 is calling it quits and will auction them off to the highest bidder. He and is expecting to sell them for $200,000, preferably to a museum or some other form of secured place.

WORLD'S LARGEST SQUIRREL

The largest squirrel in the world is the Indian giant squirrel (ratufa indica) sometimes known as the Malabar giant squirrel, it can grow to three feet in length, with only the tail measuring up to 2ft. in length. This species is found in southeast Asia, and parts of Nepal.The species is endemic to deciduous, mixed deciduous, and moist evergreen forests of peninsular India, reaching as far north as the Satpura hill range of Madhya Pradesh approx. 22° N).


The Ratufa indica has a conspicuous bipartite (and sometimes tripartite) colouring pattern. The colours involved can be creamy, beiige, buff, tan, rust, brown, or even a dark seal brown. The underparts and the front legs are usually cream coloured, the head can be brown or beige, however there is a distinctive white spot between the ears. Seven different geographical races, each distinctive in the colouration of its upper-parts, have been identified. Among these are the buff and tan Ratufa indica dealbata of the tropical moist deciduous forests of the Surat Dangs; the seal brown, tan, and beige (and darkest) Ratufa indica maxima of the tropical wet evergreen forest of Malabar; the dark brown, tan and beige (and largest), Ratufa indica bengalensis of the tropical semi-evergreen forests east of the Brahmagiri mountains in Coorg extending up to the Bay of Bengal coast of Orissa; and the rust and buff Ratufa indica centralis of the tropical dry deciduous forests of Central India, near Hoshangabad.
The Indian giant squirrel is an upper-canopy dwelling species, which rarely leaves the trees, and requires tall profusely branched trees for the construction of nests. It travels from tree to tree taking amazing leaps with limbs outspread, jumps of up to 6 m (19.69 ft). The long bushy tail helps in balancing their body on the trees. It is an active agile animal, mostly active during the early mornings and evenings. When in danger, the Ratufa indica often freezes or flattens itself against the tree trunk, instead of fleeing. Its main predators are the birds of prey and the leopard.

WORLD'S SMALLEST PIG

The pygmy hog (Porcula salvania) is the world’s smallest wild pig standing about 25-30 cm from the ground, and was once common across India, Nepal and Bhutan. However, by the 1960s, this mammal was believed to be extinct.
This pig was previously spread across India, Nepal, and Bhutan but now found only in Assam, India. The current world population is about 150 individuals or fewer. Recent conservation measures have increased the prospect of survival in the wild of this critically endangered species.
A total of 16 pygmy hogs, which is one of the most endangered mammals in the world, would soon be relocated in the grasslands of Sonai Rupai wildlife sanctuary.

The pygmy hogs were bred at the Guwahati-based Pygmy Hog Conservation Programme (PHCP) research and breeding centre at Basistha near Guwahati, Assam before being transferred to a specially constructed pre-release facility in Potasali near the Nameri National Park.
The PHCP is a collaborative project of Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust, World Conservation Union’s Pigs, Peccaries and Hippos Specialist Group (PPHSG), Assam Forest Department and the Ministry of Environment and Forests.
About 75 pygmy hogs were bred at PHCP from six wild pygmy hogs brought from Manas National Park in 1996.

WORLD'S LONGEST VENOMOUS SNAKE

The King Cobra (Ophiophagus hannah) is the world's longest venomous snake, growing to a length of 5.7 m (18.5 ft) and a weight of up to 9 kg (20 lbs). This species is quite widespread, ranging throughout south-eastern Asia and into India. In India, it is mainly found near the foothills of the Himalayas. Its genus name, Ophiophagus, literally means "snake-eater", and its diet primarily consists of other snakes, including sizeable pythons and even smaller members of its own species. The venom of the King Cobra is primarily neurotoxic, and the snake is fully capable of killing a human with a single bite. A single bite from a King Cobra can deliver enough venom to kill a full-grown Asian Elephant within 3 hours if the larger animal is bitten in a vulnerable area such as the trunk.

The skin is either olive-green, tan, or black and it has faint, pale yellow cross bands down the length of the body. The underbelly is cream or pale yellow, and the scales are smooth. The head of mature snake can be quite massive and bulky in appearance, though like all snakes, they can expand their jaws to swallow large prey items. It has two short, fixed fangs in the front of the mouth which channel venom into the prey like hypodermic needles. The male is larger and thicker than the female.

Widespread, but not common, across South and South-east Asia, It lives in dense highlands forest. The snake has a preference for living in areas dotted with lakes and streams. King Cobra populations have dropped in some areas of its range due to the destruction of forests, but despite this the snake is not listed by the IUCN as in danger of becoming extinct.