Shark

The shark is the largest fish in the see and belongs to the Chondrichhye class of
fish. They have been around for more than 300 million years and were around
even before dinosaurs. There are about 350 different types of sharks, but
researchers think there are other sharks that haven't been discovered yet. For
more information on one of the best predators in the animal kingdom. A shark
does not have a single bone in it body, instead it has a skeleton made up of
cartilage. Cartilage is a tough material, like the material that shapes your ear. A
shark has two dorsal fins on its back, one beneath its body, which is called the
pectoral fin (all species do not have that) and the tail which is the caudal fin.

Sharks are strong, healthy creatures. No other living thing can take better care
of itself than a shark can. Sharks never get cancer, so their cartilage is being
studied with the hope of developing anti-cancer drugs. Most sharks live for
about 25 years, while some can live to be a 100 years too. Most kinds of sharks
can swim up to 20-40 miles per hour. The Mayo shark is said to be able to swim
at more than 60 miles per hour.

Not all species of sharks are required to be in continuous motion to breathe,

however a shark’s body is heavier than the sea, so if it stops moving it will sink.
Sharks do not sleep in the same way as humans. Even if they seem to be sleeping
they are not, instead they are just resting. A shark’s teeth are usually replaced
every eight days. Some species of sharks shed about 30,000 teeth in their lifetime.
When a shark loses a tooth, one replaces it. A Whale Shark has more than 4,000
teeth, but each is less than 1/8 inch long. The largest shark teeth found belonged
to a Carcharodon Magaloden shark and are 6 inches long. This shark is extinct
and lived more than 4.5 million years ago. Sharks have very good senses.
Sometimes a shark is called “a swimming nose”, for its great sense of smell. Sharks
can easily detect prey that is in the sand, as well as at night.
 Dinosaurs

Dinosaurs roamed the Earth over 200 million years ago and were the
dominant terrestrial vertebrate for 135 million years. It is believed their
extinction came about because of changes in the climate they couldn't
adapt to. Birds are the closest relative to a dinosaur that we have. Below
are some interesting facts about dinosaurs. Dinosaurs walked the earth for
over 165 million years. They lived during a period of time known as the
Mesozoic Era, or Age of Reptiles.

At the end of the Cretaceous Period they became extinct – that was around
65 million years ago. During this time there was a great deal of volcanic
activity and many earthquakes. Many people believe that dinosaurs
became extinct because an asteroid hit the earth changing the climate
dramatically. It is believed that dinosaurs couldn’t adapt to these changes.
The word dinosaur means terrifying lizard. This name was invented by Sir
Richard Owen in 1842.

The oldest known dinosaur is Eoraptor, a meat-eater that lived 228 million
years ago. Most dinosaurs hatch from eggs, and they could not fly or live in
water. Dinosaurs are classified as reptiles. They are divided into two groups
based on the structure of the hip. One group has lizard-like hips and the
other group has bird-like hips. Most palaeontologists, scientists that study
dinosaurs, believe that birds are the only surviving dinosaurs. So dinosaurs
aren’t really extinct because their descendants are still living. The biggest
dinosaurs were over 100 feet long and 50 feet tall… the sauropod was the
largest dinosaur.
 The Universe

The Universe is everything we can touch, feel, sense, measure or

detect. It includes living things, planets, stars, galaxies, dust clouds,
light, and even time. Before the birth of the Universe, time, space and
matter did not exist.

The Universe contains billions of galaxies, each containing millions or

billions of stars. The space between the stars and galaxies is largely
empty. However, even places far from stars and planets contain
scattered particles of dust or a few hydrogen atoms per cubic
centimeter. Space is also filled with radiation (e.g. light and heat),
magnetic fields and high energy particles (e.g. cosmic rays).

The Universe is incredibly huge. It would take a modern jet fighter more
than a million years to reach the nearest star to the Sun. Travelling at
the speed of light (300,000 km per second), it would take 100,000 years
to cross our Milky Way galaxy alone.

No one knows the exact size of the Universe, because we cannot see
the edge – if there is one. All we do know is that the visible Universe is
at least 93 billion light years across. (A light year is the distance light
travels in one year – about 9 trillion km.)

The Universe has not always been the same size. Scientists believe it
began in a Big Bang, which took place nearly 14 billion years ago.
Since then, the Universe has been expanding outward at very high
speed. So the area of space we now see is billions of times bigger than
it was when the Universe was very young. The galaxies are also moving
further apart as the space between them expands.
 Nessie – the Loch Ness Monster.

Have you heard of Nessie, the Loch Ness Monster? Loch Ness is a very large, deep
lake in Scotland. Many people think a monster lives in it.

The first report of Nessie was back in the sixth century. A man called St Columba
reported seeing a monster in the water, but he told the monster to go back, and
he was safe.

Then, in 1933, Nessie was seen again by George Spicer and his wife – she crossed
the road in front of their car.

The next year, a photo was taken of Nessie, which became very famous. It was
taken by a doctor – but the photo turned out to be fake. Since then, there have
been several more sightings of Nessie. Some people have tried to take photos and
videos, but Nessie is very shy and the pictures are not very clear.

People have also tried exploring the lake, but it is very deep and very dark. Some
people watched the lake, while other people used equipment like underwater
cameras, microphones and sonar to scan the lake carefully. People have even
explored the lake in submersibles. No one has found anything definite. There are
lots of possible explanations for what people have seen in Loch Ness. Maybe the
monster is just a giant eel, a large bird, a tree or a seal. A few people even think it
could be a plesiosaur, which is a type of dinosaur.

So, what do you think? Do you believe that Nessie, the Loch Ness Monster, really
exists?