Kids Questions & Answers

‘Great God! this is an awful place,’ wrote the British explorer Captain Scott at the South Pole on January 17,1912. The average temperature at the South Pole is 500 C (580F) and the low temperatures in Antarctica are made worse by blizzards high winds that whip up powdery snow and reduce visibility to zero. The coldest weather ever recorded was …

In terms of sheer bulk, the blue whale must take the prize. Every time it takes a mouthful of shrimp-like krill, it swallows literally thousands upon thousands of individuals. When full, the blue whale’s stomach can hold as much as 2.5 tones of krill. At the other end of the scale, the pygmy shrew – just about the world’s smallest …

Volga River, is the Europe’s longest river, which flows 2,290 miles (3,688 km) through Russia from Valdai Hills to the Caspian Sea. Boats use it to transport goods across the country.

This enormous mound in northern Australia houses a termite colony. It is made of chewed up vegetable pulp mixed with earth and cemented together to form a hard protective home for the termites. Inside they live within a maze of air conditioned tunnels for they are able to regulate the temperature and humidity inside the mound. Termites are social insects. …

It is the atlas moth. This huge insect, which lives in the tropical rain forests of Asia, has a wingspan of 30 cm (12 in).

Ostrich is the world’s biggest living bird that lay world’s largest egg. The egg is about 8 in (20 cm) tall and weighs 3 LB 8 oz (1.6 kg), 30 times as much as a hen’s egg.

The archerfish from South-east Asia has the remarkable ability of shooting down insects from overhanging vegetation with water pellets. Its aim is quite accurate and it can usually dislodge a beetle or a fly about four feet away, so that it falls in the water. The archer fish then pounces on the insect and eats it. It is interesting to …

Most fish breathe by extracting oxygen from water, by means of their gills. Gills are delicate filaments of tissue through which blood passes. As water flows over the gills, oxygen diffuses into the blood. However, some fish have an additional method of obtaining oxygen; they use a lung, just as we do. Fish which breathe in this way are, not …

The dingo is one of the very few dogs in the world that is unable to bark. It is not a silent dog, however, as it makes up for not barking by howling and whining very loudly indeed. Dingoes are a very ancient breed of wild dog from Australia. They are probably quite closely related to the primitive dogs from …

The hermit crab. Instead of scuttling about protected by its own tough shell like other crabs, it has a soft body which it protects inside the empty shells of whelks and other mollusks. The hermit crab finds a suitable shell and eases its body inside. Then, with just its head and legs sticking out, it trundles about the seabed looking …