They Once Ruled the Earth

Millions and millions of years ago the land, sea and sky were ruled by reptiles — pterosaurs, ichthyosaurs, plesiosaurs, and mosasaurs.
One of the largest of all animals was Brontosaurus. It was as long as a line of ten elephants and weighed about 30 tons. It spent his days wading in the water and eating green plants.
Most of the ancient reptiles were plant-eaters. Many had small heads on very long necks, and they walked on four legs.
Tyrannosaurus Rex had a huge head and a thousand teeth. He could kill and eat a Brontosaurus.
Tyrannosaurus Rex means “king of the lizard tyrants.” Brontosaurus means “thunder lizard.” Dinosaur means “terrible lizard”.
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Tigers are members of the cat family. They are the biggest of the big cats. They are good climbers, great swimmers, and fast runners. Tigers are found in the wild only in parts of Russia, China, and South and Southeast Asia. They live in forests, grasslands, and swamps.
Tigers live only on very large grounds. For example, 3-6 animals (1-2 males and 2-3 females) need the habitat of 1000 square kilometers. In search of food tigers walk 15-20 kilometers a day. However, farming and growing cities have made their habitat smaller.
More than other big cats, tigers have a reputation as man-eaters. In truth, it is rare for a tiger to attack people. Their usual prey are large animals but they will also eat fish when they are hungry. They are mainly nocturnal (active at night). Tigers usually stay away from large animals such as elephants, buffalo, and bears. The tiger drags the killed animal to a safe place and eats it over several days.
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Turtles are reptiles and there are nearly 250 kinds of them in the world today. They are known for moving very slowly. They were around during the age of dinosaurs more than 100 million years ago. Dinosaurs are gone now, but turtles are still here.
They can live in the oceans, ponds, lakes or rivers, in forests or even hot desert sands. Some people refer to land turtles as “tortoises.”
Both sea and land turtles lay their eggs on land. The temperature in the nest usually affects the sex of the baby turtles. Warmer temperatures generally produce females, while cooler temperatures produce males.
Turtles can take care of themselves because they carry their houses with them wherever they go. Some turtles can close their shells completely.
Turtles eat worms, snails, insects, jellyfish, and shellfish. Many of them eat only plants. They can live for days or even weeks without having anything to eat or drink.
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Vultures are large birds of prey. Unlike other birds of prey, vultures usually do not hunt for live animals. They mostly eat the bodies of dead animals instead. However, vultures have been known to attack relatively helpless, recently born, young animals.
Vultures can fly for hours, soaring gracefully on their long, broad wings. Their feathers are usually brown, black, or white. They have excellent eyesight.
Vultures are among endangered birds. Their numbers have been declining everywhere. Some of the remaining birds nest in Tibet or Mongolia and winter in southern Far East of Russia.
Whenever vultures manage to find piles of dead flesh they eat as much as possible as they are desperate for food. Some overeat and get unable to fly. Then they become an easy target for poachers, drivers or cruel people who simply love stoning. As a result, many birds have died. If winters are severe and bring heavy snowfalls, the result is also tragic. Vultures cannot find any food and die of hunger.
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Anaconda is one of the longest and heaviest snakes in the world.
Anacondas live in the Amazon jungles of South America near rivers, lakes and swamps. They spend most of their time in water. They are very well camouflaged and aren’t easily seen.
They like to live alone and are rather shy. This animal is not poisonous.
Anacondas are members of the boa constrictor family of snakes. That means that they kill their victims by squeezing them. They coil their powerful bodies around the prey and squeeze it tighter and tighter – until the animal can no longer breathe. Then the snake swallows its prey whole. Anacondas usually hunt at night.
Anacondas hide and wait for something tasty to come by and then make a surprise attack. They also like to drown their victims before eating them. This snake eats fish, caimans, birds, turtles, wild pigs, other snakes. Sometimes they attack bigger animals as well, such as jaguars. They can open their mouths wide enough to fit around an entire goat. After a big meal they can live without food for months.
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The domestication of cattle was one of the most significant events in human history. Sheep and goat herders were still largely migratory peoples, seasonally driving their flocks between pastures. The ox allowed humans to till the soil, settle and build villages and towns.
Bull symbolizes strength and fury. The ancient Hittites of Anatolia worshipped a sun god whose chariot was harnessed to bulls. In Norse mythology the animal was identified with both Thor, the god of thunder, and Freyja, the goddess of fertility. The Hindu god Indra also appears as Agni, the fertilizing bull.
In Hinduism, cows are protected as sacred and revered as nourishers of humanity.

From the history of cattle
– Cattle originated millions of years ago in India. By the early Pleistocene era, they had migrated to Europe, North Africa, and the rest of Asia.
– An early species of long-horned cattle, the aurochs, was hunted by people during the Stone Age. Cave drawings of the aurochs have survived from 30,000 B.C.
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Whales are the biggest animals on our planet. They live in the water and look like fish. But they aren’t fish at all. They are aquatic mammals. Whales live in oceans and seas all over the world.
They breathe air and produce milk for their young. They breathe through blowholes at the top of their heads. Whales make sounds to communicate with each other.
There are two basic kinds of whale: toothed and baleen. Toothed whales have sharp teeth and eat mainly fish and squid. There are about 70 species of toothed whale. These include the sperm whale, the beluga, the killer whale, the narwhal, beaked whales, and pilot whales.
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