Monthly Archives: April 2014
109.CAN SEALS LIVE UNDER WATER?
Because we have all seen trained seals in the circus, and because seals are such fun to watch in the zoo, they have a kind of fascination for us. Yet surprisingly little is known by most people about these creatures.
The order of seals includes the fur seals, the sea lions, hair seals, sea elephants, and the walrus. Seals are mammals, and they stand halfway between typical mammals such as cows and dogs, and such sea mammals as whales.
108.ARE THERE SQUIRRELS IN OTHER COUNTRIES?
The squirrel is such a familiar sight to us in parks or in the country that we might imagine that our own land is its home. Actually, there are squirrels in every part of the world except Australia!
In fact, there are very many different kinds of squirrels. They may be as large as cats or as small as mice. They may have soft, warm fur or prickly spines. They may scamper through the branches or glide easily through the air from treetop to treetop on flaps of skin that are like parachutes. Some of them even live in the ground. But almost all of them are friendly, chattering little animals with long bushy tails and bright beady eyes.
107.ARE LIZARDS POISONOUS?
There are few animals on earth which have as frightening an appearance for their size as some lizards! Yet of all the more than 2,500 different kinds of lizards, only two are-actually poisonous. These are the Gila monster, which lives in American deserts, and the beaded lizard of Mexico.
Lizards are closely related to snakes, and, like snakes, are cold-blooded reptiles with scaly skins. Unlike the snakes, however, their long bodies are usually divided into three distinct parts; head, trunk, and tail. Most species have four legs.
