Solenodons are curious rat-sized creatures with long snouts. They were once found in North America but the only survivors of this ancient group are found on two islands of the West Indies, one species on Cuba and another on Haiti. Solenodons are members of a primitive group of mammals called insectivores. These were the first placental mammals and in general …

They are stocks of companies which manufacture or deal with cigarettes, alcohol, weapons and sex-related products. They could be directly involved in the business or associated with such activities. Such companies are also called sin businesses.

The volcanoes of Hawaii and Sicily’s Mount Etna are called ‘quiet volcanoes’. This is because they contain fluid, runny magma. Gases and steam can easily escape from runny magma and so ‘quiet’ volcanoes do not explode. Instead, they emit long streams os blazing hot lava. The lava often flows great distances before it cools and hardens.

The praying mantis is an insect belonging to the family Mantoidea. The name “mantis” means “a diviner” and the insect has always been surrounded by superstition and legend because of its habit of remaining motionless or swaying gently backwards and forward with its head raised and front legs outstretched as if in prayer. In fact it is a ferocious killer …

A national park near the city of Melbourne in Australia has been given the name Organ Pipes National Park, because of the peculiar geological formation called Organ Pipes existing there. The organ pipes in the above park are a set of vertical rocks which look like the pipes of a pipe organ. These rocks are supposed to be more than …

People how move around making use of land, which is unfit for farming are called nomads. The term is applied especially to people, whose livelihood depends on animals. Some, like the Lapps of northern Europe, follow the yearly migration of animals, such as reindeer. Others, like the Bakhtiari in Iran, drive herds of domesticated animals from place to place in …

Imagine after a game of Holi your skin begins to glow and your hair get an added bounce or lustre… Most people cannot imagine this scenario as for a large majority of us it is nearly a nightmarish experience to get rid of the colours and to get their initial skin type back. It is to be noted that Holi …

Almost every sailor has a tale to tell about strange beasts he has seen in the waters of the sea, and some have told of mermaids, creatures which are half human and half fish. Fairy stories have grown out of these tales, including the most famous of all, The Little Mermaid by Hans Christian Andersen. But are there really such …

Mango showers are those experienced prior to the arrival of the monsoon. They are common in the states of Kerala, Karnataka and also some parts of Tamil Nadu and Pondicherry. These showers arrive generally in late April and May and are usually very difficult to predict by the meteorological department. The showers are said to aid in the ripening of …

There are two sub-tropical high-pressure belts extending approximately between latitudes 15 and 30 degrees to the north and south of the Equator. Horse latitudes are generally areas of high pressure marked by calm, subsiding air that gets heated during descent. It is said that Spanish sailors ferrying horses to the West Indies were usually stuck for months in these calm …