Yes. Loud booming sounds occur in deserts when sand dunes are disturbed and sand slips down the steep faces of the dunes. Such roaring sounds have been compared with the noise of aircraft engines starting up. At night, sounds like pistol shots may frighten travelers. They occur when desert rocks crack and split. The cracking of rocks is caused by …

A species of treefrog from Malaya is even more adapted for scrambling and leaping after flying insects. This is Wallace’s Treefrog and it has webbed feet with especially long fingers and toes. When the frog launches into a leap it stretches the fingers and toes wide apart, and the increase in surface area enables it to glide downwards for considerable …

Land covers just over 29 per cent of the earth’s surface. But about two thirds of the land is too cold or too dry for farming. Of the remaining land, only one-third can be used for crops and the rest is grazing land. Will this be enough to feed the world’s population as it soars towards 10,000 million? Experts think …

No, all venomous snakes are not dangerous to humans. Bites from copperheads are common along the eastern part of the United States, but no one has died of a copperhead bite.

Ayers Rock (Uluru) is a huge mass of Sandstone. It is 1142-ft (348 m) above a flat desert floor. It is sacred to the Aboriginals. Caves at the base are decorated with traditional Aboriginal paintings. At sunset, rays from the setting sun strike the rock and it glows to deep red.

The curious dodo was a large flightless bird. On its island home of Mauritius in the Indian Ocean, it had no enemies until the arrival of man and the dogs and rats which arrived in his ships. All that now remains of the dodo are seven skeletons in museums.

Do you believe in fairies? You have probably read lots of stories about them, but possibly you don’t believe that they exist. Well, if you are doubtful about them, here’s a story that may well interest you. In 1917 two young girls in Yorkshire borrowed a simple camera and took some photographs – which still have to be explained. They …

The Kings and queens, and nobles of the Middle Ages lived in the castles. But castles were also symbols of their power, and fortresses against rivals who might try to make war on them. These grand homes were built between the ninth and the fifteenth centuries all over Europe. Many have been preserved and most of them have been turned …

Several features of the monitor lizards are not found in other lizards but are found in snakes. For example, the monitor lizards are the only lizards to swallow their prey whole, or if it is too big, pieces of it. Other lizards chew and crush their food before eating. Another snake-like characteristic unknown in snakes. These clues indicate that monitors …

Stories of great attacking and eating explorers are very much in the realms of fiction, for gorillas are strictly vegetarian. Despite their huge size they eat mainly twigs and leaves. The fearsome-looking canine teeth which they possess are used for threat displays, and for setting disputes among their own kind. On the whole, gorillas are shy, retiring creatures which have …