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A Lizard that Squirts Blood from its Eyes
Are you scared of lizards? There is no need to be unless you come face to face with one kind, called the Horned Lizard. It sprays blood from its eyes, and may just make you jump a bit. A lizard that squirts blood from its eyes [Illustration by Shridevi] Not all time. Only when it feels threatened. Surprisingly, the Horned Toad or the Horned Lizard, found in North America and Mexico, is often kept as a pet....
Spiders and their Magical Web
Most of us have come across cobwebs that accumulate in our walls, and ceilings when we dust our homes. The webs are under tables, cellars, and sometimes across branches and leaves at the park. All these cobwebs are the work of spiders. Spider webs are fine silken threads. Originally spiders spun silk to protect their eggs and to line their nests. But later they adapted to use this silk to weave a web and trap their prey....
Smelling Food with the Tongue
Snakes are smart. They move fast and without sound. And they know how to protect themselves against enemies by looking as if they are part of forest growth. And they do it so well that someone may just step over them thinking they are logs or the stem of a plant. That’s when they bite. It is surprising then, to know that these reptiles do not have a powerful vision. They can see you move if you are close by, but not if you are standing at a distance....
Amazing Facts About Water
The Little things that count… A fraction of 1 per cent of drinkable tap water is actually drunk. It takes half a gallon of water to cook a pot of rice, and a gallon to wash the pot. You need 100 drops of water to fill a teaspoon. Amazing Facts The biggest domestic water consumer is the toilet — 2.2 gallons for every flush. Around 32 per cent of our drinking water is flushed down the toilet....
Rocky Planet of Fire and Ice
Would you believe it? The soft sand that we sink into on the beach is actually rock? Sand is what a rock becomes after years of being worn down by rivers. Years of sea waves crashing against huge rocks and cliffs makes rocks break into small particles. And ultimately, they end up as sand. The colours of sands — yellow, red, grey, black — depend on the kind of rock it comes from. Sometimes desert sand is carried by winds across great distances, to seasides, increasing the amount of sand in the sea....
The Deadliest Animal in the World
Do you know, it is one of deadliest creatures in the world? No, it’s not the cobra. It is the sea wasp. It is a kind of jelly fish and is called the Chironex Fleckeri, commonly known as sea wasp. It has a bell-shaped body with long tentacles that trail behind it. These tentacles have hundreds of thousands of tiny cells, which contain a cobra-like poison. When a victim brushes against the tentacles, the poison is injected into his body, killing him in less than five minutes....
Squirrelling it Away
Chimpu and his grandfather had gone to the park for an evening walk. After Chimpu had played with his friends for over an hour, he came back sweating and tired, to sit beside his grandfather at the park bench. There he found his grandfather throwing peanuts, brought from home, to the scampering squirrels at his feet. In fact, bushy-tailed squirrels are a common sight in the city’s parks and gardens. This frisky little rodent is constantly scampering around, and it is indeed rare to come across one perfectly still....
Killing a Tree Softly
How does a tree die? When it is cut down with an axe. But, sometimes, we may end up hurting or killing a tree without meaning to. It may happen when we carve our names or draw a heart on a tree trunk by cutting away the bark of the tree with a knife. For, along with the bark we also cut away an important tissue called phloem. This tissue carries the food made by the leaves to the other parts of the tree....
Fish That Live in the Desert
We all know that fish live in water. But, there is a kind of fish which lives in the desert. Difficult to believe? Well, there is a variety of fish called the lungfish, which are found in Africa. When the rivers overflow, their water spreads to the dry regions around. It forms small lakes or ponds. The fish lives in these ponds. And, when the lakes dry up, the lung fish don’t die. They bury themselves in the wet mud where they can live for months....
The Spectacled Bear
Many of us wear glasses when we have problems with eyesight. But, have you ever heard of bears with glasses? No, not the bears who appear on the Cartoon Network on TV. Real bears. The spectacled bear [Illustration by Shridevi] There is a kind of bear which lives in the forests of South America. It is called the ‘spectacled bear,’ or the Tremarctos Ornatus. It has white coloured fur around its eyes, which makes it look like it is wearing glasses....