Happy Earth Day! Lets have a brief look on 4.54 billion years old planet

Lucknow: It took almost 4.543 billion years to earth to become what we call as 'home'. Earth is the only astronomical object known to harbor life and is home to most amazing life forms and mysterious things.

Today, on the occasion of World Earth Day, Newstrack.com brings to you some of the fascinating facts about mother earth and the weird creatures that live on it:

Plant that lives upto 500-1500-years

-It is home to a unique plant that has an estimated life span upto 500-1500 years. Welwitschia Mirabilis can survive within many extreme weather conditions and is only found in the desert of Namibia. The most interesting thing about Welwitschia is the plant only has two leaves that grow continuously over time. This strange species also have separate male and female plants.

The giant tree

-The largest tree in the world is a giant sequoia (Sequoiadendron giganteum) also known as General Sherman is about 52,500 cubic feet (1,487 cubic meters) in volume. That's the equivalent of more than half the volume of an Olympic-size swimming pool. The tree is estimated to be about 2,000 years old and is in California's Sequoia National Park.

The monster 3-feet wide flower

-Rafflesia arnoldii is the biggest individual flower in the world. It got its reputation because of its 3-feet wide petals. The flower is basically a parasitic plant in disguise, with no visible leaves, roots, or stem. It attaches itself to a host plant to obtain water and nutrients. It produces an unpleasant irritating smell that of a 'rotten meat' or 'corpes' to attracts insects that could pollinate the plant. Rafflesia arnoldii is unisexual, have both male and female reproduction system and is mainly found in forests of Sumatra.

Nose of a pig and teeth of Vampires

-This cute little rat with pig nose Dracula teeth was discovered in 2013, and since then they have become the object of nightmares. The elusive animal, aptly named the hog-nosed rat (Hyorhinomys stuempkei), inhabits the Indonesian island of Sulawesi. In 2013, researchers studying the island's other rat species caught two of these pig-snouted rodents inside traps.

Fish that defies the 'Law of nature'

-Lungfish or 'Dipnoi' are a group of sarcopterygiian fish that can live upto 5 years on land without food and water. Found in Africa and South America, Lung fish are able to survive when their pools dry up by burrowing into the mud and sealing themselves within a mucous-lined burrow. During this time, they breathe air through their swim bladder instead of through their gills, and reduce their metabolic rate dramatically.