Wander Lord

Interesting on art, nature, people, history

Category Archive: Nature

Wombat – bear-like marsupial

Wombat - bear-like marsupial

Wombat – bear-like marsupial


Wombats are bear-like Australian marsupials, about the size of a small dog. They dig burrows and have perpetually growing teeth. They can weigh more than 40 kg and can be 1 m long.
They are gray or brownish gray and have bare, leathery pads with shovel-like claws.
The family Vombatidae includes three species. The critically endangered Queensland or northern hairynosed wombat is limited to a small area of Queensland National Park.
The southern hairy-nosed wombat lives in dry grasslands of southern Australia. They have fine white hairs on their nose.
The common wombat lives in forests on mountainsides and has leathery, bare nose and rounded ears.
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Rainbow – miracle in the sky

Rainbow – miracle in the sky

Rainbow – miracle in the sky

Colorful rainbow in the sky has been astonishing and frightening people since ancient times. The ancient Greeks thought these arcs of color were signs from the gods to warn people that terrible wars or storms were going to happen. The Norse people believed a rainbow was a bridge the gods used to walk down from the sky to the Earth. Irish legends said there was a pot of gold at the end of a rainbow.
But rainbows aren’t magic. It is just colored light. The seven colors are always the same and appear in the same order: red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo, and violet.
Rainbows often appear after or at the end of a rain. When a beam of sunlight passes through raindrops, it’s broken into the seven different colors. Because only water and light are required for rainbows, one will see them in rain, spray, or even fog.
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Asteroid – celestial body

Asteroid - celestial body

Asteroid – celestial body

Asteroids are small, rocky bodies that travel around the sun. They are also called minor planets or planetoids. They are created when other bodies in space collide and break apart. Most asteroids travel around the sun. They are much smaller than planets. The largest of them are between 100 kilometers and 1,000 kilometers across. Asteroids can be almost any shape and are made up of stone and metal.
Every day many small asteroids enter Earth’s atmosphere and almost all burn up before they hit the ground. As they burn they create a streak of light called a meteor. An asteroid that reaches Earth’s surface is called a meteorite.
The first asteroids were identified by astronomers in 1801. Giuseppe Piazzi found a new object in the sky on January 1, 1801. Some people thought that it was a new planet. Over the next few years many more objects, much smaller than a planet, were seen.
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Interesting facts about termites

Interesting facts about termites

Interesting facts about termites

Termites are social insects. They eat wood and can damage buildings, furniture, and other wooden items. Contrary to popular belief, the termites are close relatives of cockroaches, rather than ants.
There are more than 1,500 species of termite.
They are most commonly found in the tropical parts of Africa, Southeast Asia, Australia, and the Americas.
These insects build damp nests in wood or underground. Their nests rise above the ground as mounds or towers and are made of dirt, clay, and chewed wood. A nest could be measured almost 6.66 m high and 33 m around and even more. Many nests are more than one hundred years old.
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Venus – bright planet

Venus – bright planet

Venus – bright planet

Venus is the second planet from the Sun. It was named for the Roman goddess of love and beauty. It sometimes appears in the sky as the evening or morning star.
Its distance from the sun averages about 108 million kilometers and it is the hottest planet in the solar system despite the fact that it is much farther from the Sun than Mercury.
This planet is covered by thick layers of clouds that do not allow much sunlight to reach the planet’s surface.
The temperature on the Venusian surface reaches about 464° C.
Venus is close to Earth in size. Its physical diameter is 12,104 km, making the planet about 95% the size of Earth. Its mass is equivalent to 82% that of Earth’s.
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Totenkopf – Death’s-head hawkmoth

Totenkopf - Death's-head hawkmoth

Totenkopf – Death’s-head hawkmoth

Death’s-head hawkmoth (Acherontia atropos) is the heroine of the darkest stories and legends. It became famous as the messenger of misfortune, death, war and disease.
It is found in southern Europe and the Americas, North Africa and the Caucasus. It appears only in the evening and at night – big, strong, and fast. Its wingspan is up to 15 centimeters! Moreover, it makes a noise while flying. There is an image of skull and crossbones on its back. Actually, this yellow label has turned an innocent butterfly into a “fiend”. No wonder that the hawk moths were destroyed. They almost disappear in the Crimea. Totenkopf is on the verge of extinction. When these butterflies were seen in Great Britain, a country with a relatively cool climate, they made a lot of noise.
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Thistle – prickly plant

Thistle – prickly plant

Thistle – prickly plant

Thistles are prickly plants. Some kinds have nice flowers, and people grow them as garden plants.
This plant can grow to more than 2.4 meters tall. It usually has prickly leaves with ragged edges. They are green and are sometimes covered with white hairs. Their flower is actually a group of small flowers that are mostly pink, purple, or yellow. They produce feathery seeds that scatter in the wind.
Thistles can grow in many climates and soils. There are over a hundred species of thistle.
Milk thistle, star thistle and holy thistle have been used and cultivated for medicinal purposes. It is used as a dietary supplement for the cardiovascular system. In addition, medicines based on thistle have bactericidal effect, stop bleeding and increase smooth muscle tone. In some Baltic countries it is used as a cure for coughs and asthma, various skin diseases.
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