As the winter snows settle on its slopes, sometimes for as long as six months, the local residents (who make a small and select club) busy themselves with the task of survival: the small, plump, rabbit-like pika, the hoary marmot, the shy and only rarely glimpsed mountain goat and the grizzly bear, for whom the marmot and pika would make a welcome meal. animals survive
An egg breaks open to reveal the way to a bright new world. Fluffy, feathery, scaly and horny creatures of all kinds burst into life from eggs in the warm sand, swaying tree tops or even deep in the sea. Of these the oldest is the turtle. Its ancestors crawled among the giant animals which roamed the Earth in prehistoric times. – Animals lay millions of eggs
There is a thin fragile layer lying on a small part of the surface of the Earth. Few people think much of it or understand it. Yet this layer — the soil — is perhaps the greatest gift of Nature to Man. It is a complex living thing without which there is nothing but desert. – What is Soil.
It is generally believed that Nature is ruthless. If any wild creature is sick or injured it is always left to die or is actually killed by its companions rather than become a liability to them. This is not strictly true. Many creatures act as their own doctors in an attempt to cure themselves. Nature’s Healers
Explorers and fur trappers have described it as the last great wilderness on Earth. It stretches for 13 million flat, featureless square kilometres from the snow and ice of the North Pole to the great northern forests. It is a cold, hard place in which to eke out a living, but large numbers of animals and plants do just that in this frozen desolation that is called the tundra.
While you sleep, part of the animal kingdom is very busy. Most animals feel much safer during the hours of darkness — and Nature has ensured that they will be. Why should so many animals be active at night? The answer lies in the story of their development from the earliest and most primitive stages. Those early animals felt much safer if they kept hidden while the light was bright enough for them to be seen by their hunters. – Which Creatures are active at Night
Although Charles Darwin was an unpromising schoolboy and student, his family decided he should be a doctor. But he was far too squeamish for the blood and horrors of 19th century medicine, and so after a miserable time studying medicine at Edinburgh, his father sent him to Cambridge to study theology (religion). Theory of Charles Darwin
Plants are the source of all life. They are the only things capable of catching the energy of the sun and turning it into living tissue. Without plants there would be no animals and no people. There are millions of species of plants — from the giant oaks and redwoods, through beautiful orchids to humble grasses. – important group of plants
Although many animals are potentially dangerous to Man, most have been greatly exaggerated as killers by sensational fiction. Tales of man-eating tigers, voracious sharks and blood thirsty wolves abound, but most are pure invention. A pet dog suffering from rabies is a far greater threat than any of these animals.- Which snakes can kill
It is perhaps fitting that one nation, Canada, should have recognized the elegance, industry and charm of the beaver by selecting it as its national animal. Regrettably, this acknowledgement is quite recent since historical records clearly state that beavers were once more numerous and widespread than they are today.
