Antarctica

Antarctica is the fifth largest continent in the world. The South Pole is located on it. Antarctica covers five million square miles (12,944,500 sq km). This is the coldest area in the world. The land is buried under ice a mile thick. In winter it is often 100 degrees Fahrenheit below zero (-73c).

Few plants or animals can stand the cold. In the summer, mosses and lichens grow in a few places. The animals that live in the Antarctic eat fish and sea animals. Seal, whales, and birds live along the shores of Antarctica.

In 1911, Roald Amundsen became the first man to travel to the South Pole. Today, much of Antarctica has still not been explored. But scientists continue their study of this cold, icy region.

Animation

Animation is the way motion pictures are made from still drawings. A ten-minute cartoon is made from more than 10,000 separate drawings. Each drawing shows the action a split second after the picture before. When the drawings are put on a screen, one after another, it looks like the drawings are moving.

The first step in making an animated film is to prepare a story board. This shoes the main scenes. Skilled animators make the drawings that show the action.
The drawings are then traced onto sheets of plastic. Then the artists paint in the colors. The drawings are then photographed

Animal Behavior

Animal behavior is anything an animal does. Animals find food. They fight. They mate. They have babies and take care of the babies. They make homes. They even seem to have fun playing.

People have always studied how animals act because they hunt and raise animals for food and clothing. The study of animal behavior is very important today. People are animals. The more we know about ourselves.

Animals communicate. This means they have ways of keeping in touch with each other. Elephants, apes, and many other animals make sounds that tell their families where they are. Birds sing when there is danger, when they want to mate, and when they want to warm other birds to stay away.

Animals build different kinds of homes. Prairie dogs and ants dig their homes in the ground. Owls, squirrels, and skunks often live inside dead trees.
Many animals live in a different place in summer and in the winter. They migrate. This means the travel from one place to another. A sea bird called the tern spends its summer in the Antarctic at the bottom of the world. For the winter, it flies to the Arctic at the top of the world.

Animals mate to have babies. To find mates, male birds show off their bright feathers. Fireflies flash lights. Female dogs send out odors that bring male dogs to them. Survival means being able to stay alive. Animals must find food to survive. And they must hide, run, or fight other animals.

Animal

The world animal means “living being.” There are more than one million kinds of animals. New kinds are always being found. The smallest animal is so tiny that it can only be seen if you look at it though a microscope. The largest animal is a blue whale that grows to be 100 feet (30.48 m) and weighs 300,000 pounds (136,080 kg).
There are six main groups of animals: mammals, birds, fish, insects, reptiles, and amphibians.

Mammals have hair or fur on their bodies. They give birth to babies that feed on mother’s milk. People, dogs, cats, and most larger animals are mammals.
Birds have feathers. Their babies hatch out of hard eggshells.

Most fish have scales all over their bodies. Gills allow them to breathe in the water. Fins help them to swim. Most fish hatch from eggs. Insect have three pairs of legs, and a body divided into three parts. Most insect have wings. They lay eggs.

Reptiles live on both land and in the water. Their bodies have scales. They lay egg on land. Turtles, snakes and lizards are reptiles. Amphibians also live on land and in water.

They lay eggs in the water. Frogs, toads, and salamanders are amphibians.
The animal kingdom is divided into two groups. One group is vertebrates. These are animals with backbones. The second group is invertebrates. These are animals without backbones. Mammals, birds, fish, reptiles, and amphibians have backbones. Insects, worms, starfish, snail and one-celled animals have no backbones.

Anhingas and Cormorants

Anhingas and cormorants are large water birds like pelicans. Their bodies are about 2 to 3 feet (61 to91 cm) long.

Anhingas are often called ”snakebirds” because they have long, curved necks that look like snakes. The anhinga holds its neck bent close to its body when it swims. It springs a passing fish with lightning speed the way a snake does. It spears the fish on its sharp bill.

Cormorants usually live near the ocean. Cormorants swim well underwater. They can dive as deep as 100 feet (30 m). Oriental people use cormorants to catch fish. A ring around the bird’s neck stops it from eating the fish it has just caught.

Anglerfish

Catching fish is called” angling.” Some kinds of fish really do “angle” for other fish. Anglerfish have spiny threads that stick out from the fins on the backs of their heads.

These threads look like fishing lines. A bit of flesh at the tip of the “line” looks like a worm to other fish. When these fish come near it, the anglerfish catches them in its big, wide mouth.

Anglerfish can swallow a fish as large as they are because their stomachs will stretch. There are many kinds of anglerfish. Some grow to be 5 feet (1.5m) long. Many anglerfish live in the shallow waters around Europe and North America.

Andersen, Hans Christian

Andersen, Hans Christian (1805-1875) was a Danish writer of fairy tales. Among his most famous stories are “The Ugly Ducking” and “The Little Mermaid.”
Andersen had little schooling as a boy. But he was imaginative and he loved to listen to the stories and folk tales his father and grandmother told him. At 14, he left his home in Odense to go to Copenhagen. He wanted to become an actor or a singer or a dancer. He was not good at any of these. He finally managed to finish his schooling and he became a writer. His first novel, published in 1835, was a success, and he wrote several others. He also wrote poetry, plays, and travel books.

But his fairy tales made Andersen famous. He wrote his first four when he was 30 qnd 164 more before he died. They are read by children-and adult-all over the world. Today, visitors to Copenhagen can see a statue of “the little mermaid.” in the city’s harbor. It was put there by the Danish people to honor Andersen.

The Andes Mountain are the longest chain of mountains in the world. They stretch along the west coast of South America for 4,500 miles (7,240 km).
The Andes are also one of the highest mountain ranges in the world. Only the Himalayas in Asia are taller. Many of the Andes are over four miles (6.4 km) high. Some peaks are covered with large masses of ice called glaciers. Other peaks are active volcanoes which can do great damage.

There are also many earthquakes in the Andes. Lima, Peru, and Valparaiso, Chile, are two South American cities that have been badly damaged by earthquakes.
South America’s major river, the Amazon, begins in the Andes. High in the Andes, between Bolivia and Peru, is Lake Titicaca. This is the largest lake in the world.
About a third of all South Americans live in the Andes region. The Andes provide the world with important minerals, including copper, tin, and petroleum. Among the many animals that live in the Andes are llamas, alpacas, and vicunas.