The tautara is the only survivor of the beak-headed order of reptiles, called Rhynchocephalia, that goes back to the time of the dinosaurs. It hunts by night and its prey are insects. Like the coelecanth, a prehistoric fish that still survives, the tautara is almost a living fossil. It can now be found only on some of the small islets …

Ages ago, people believed there was magic in the weaving of a spider’s web and the Greeks told a story about a girl, Arachne, who was to give all spiders the name of Arachnida. One day, Archne, who was skilled in the art of weaving, challenged the goddess to a contest. She proved herself better than Athene at the craft …

The Leaning Tower of Pisa is a marble bell tower at Pisa, Italy. Even though the tower has been leaning since it was under construction, it has stood for hundreds of years, despite the fact that it looks as if it will fall any minute. The tower was begun over 800 years ago, in 1174, and completed in 1350. After …

The hermit Crab is soft-bodied and so would be extremely vulnerable to its enemies if it had no protection at all. For some reason it has become adapted over time to living within the old shells of mollusks, usually whelks but sometimes periwinkles and top shells. Only two pairs of legs are used for walking, the grip the shell and …

The camel’s best known nickname is ‘the ship of desert’, and it is very well suited to the camel. The camel is ideally suited to the life it leads in the desert, and its best adaptation is its hump. Although many people know that the camel can go for days, even weeks at a time, without food or water, not …

There are two occasions when a snake will dance – both connected with the mating season. In the first case the dancing partners are both male and their performance appears to be a from of aggression designed to impress the female. The second occasion is a nuptial dance between male and female. First the snakes pursue each other and coil …

A lizard is capable of shedding its tail at any time. If a lizard is attacked it may sacrifice its tail in an attempt to surprise and confuse the enemy. When a lizard’s tail is caught by an assailant or a trap, it will simply snap off and enable the reptile to escape. Although some lizards’ tails can be four …

Dowsing is an ancient way of finding water. The dowser holds one end of the Y-shaped twig in each hand, and walks around until the stem twitches downward, showing where is buried.

Rainwater that sleeps into the ground filters down to the zone of saturation, where every crack in the rock is filled with water. (Below this point compact rocks stop the water going any deeper.) The top level of the zone of saturation is called the water table. This level rises and falls according to the weather, and walls sunk down …

The song of the birds at dawn has given pleasure to millions of people has been celebrated in poetry and prose for many years. The most usual explanation given in the Middle Ages was that the birds sang each day in praise of God and the beauty with which, he had clothed the world. More recently, there was the feeling …