KOMODO DRAGON Do you know what is the largest lizard? This lizard is called komodo.

It lives in the scrub and woodland of a few Indonesian islands. Komodo dragon is the world's heaviest lizard, weighing 150 pounds or more. The largest Komodo ever measured was more than 10 feet (3 meters) long and weighed 366 pounds (166 kg) but the average size of komodo in the wild is about 8 feet (2.5 meters) long and 200 pounds (91 kg) Komodo has gray scaly skin, a pointed snout, powerful limbs and a muscular tail. They use their keen sense of smell to locate decaying animal remains from several miles away. They also hunt other lizards as well as large mammals and are sometimes cannibalistic. The Komodo dragon's teeth are almost completely covered by its gums. When it feeds, the gums bleed, creating an ideal culture for virulent bacteria. The bacteria that live in the Komodo dragon's saliva causes septicemia, or blood poisoning, in its victims. A dragon will bite its prey, then follow it until the animal is too weak to carry on. This lizard species is threatened by hunting, loss of prey species and habitat loss.

PLANT Plants are living beings. They need food, water and air for survival. (General Classification) Plants derive their food from the earth and the air. If you look at their roots, you will find that ends of these roots are like fine fibers. We call them root-hairs. They absorb water and minerals, then transport them upwards to the leaves through the trunk and the branches. It is the leaves which prepare the food. (Description) The green material, chlorophyll, prepares the food like a machine. It converts the carbon dioxide taken from the air and water from the ground into sugar with the help of sunlight. This chemical reaction is called photosynthes. In fact, the chlorophyll takes energy from the sunlight and uses it to synthesize the hydrogen from water and carbon from carbon dioxide for making sugar. This reaction also gives out oxygen and water which are excreted by the leaves. (Description)

AUSTRALIA Australia is a large continent. It has six states and two territories. The capital city of Australia is Canberra. It is in the Australian Capital Territory. The population of Australia is about 20 million. The first inhabitants to live in Australia were Aboriginal people. After that people came from all over the world. The main language is English, however many other languages are spoken. There are many plants and animals that are only found in Australia, e.g. kangaroos, platypuses, gum trees and Waratahs. The main products and industries are wool, minerals, oil, coal, cereals and meat. Some famous landmarks are the Harbour Bridge, the Opera House and Uluru (Ayers Rock).

Seals Seals, sea lions and walruses live both on land and in the sea. When on dry land or on ice, they are very clumsy in their movements. But in the water they swim gracefully. They all leave the water for land or ice fields to give birth to their young. The dolphins and the sea cows are sea mammals. Dolphins and porpoise look alike but usually the dolphins are larger. These animals are mainly fish eaters. Experiments show that dolphins are intelligent and can communicate with each other. They can be trained to perform various kinds of tricks and acts. The highly intelligent killer whale belongs to the dolphin family. Despite of its scary name, it has never been heard to attack human.

Silkworms Silkworms live for only two or three days after laying eggs. About 36.000 to 50.000 eggs are laid, and these are carefully stored at the silkworm farm until they are ready to hatch.

The eggs hatch into caterpillars, which feed on mulberry leaves. Soon the caterpillars are ready to spin their cocoons. Not all caterpillars can spin silk cocoons. Only the caterpillars of a silkworm moth known as Bombyx mori can do such spinning. This caterpillar has special glands which secrete liquid silk through its lower lip. The liquid produced later hardens to form fine strands. The caterpillar makes its cocoons using these strands. The threads on the outside of the cocoons are rough, while those inside are soft and smooth.Some fully-spun cocoons are heated. This kills the pupa inside. The cocoons are then put into hot water to loosen the fine threads. Finally, these threads are reeled off the cocoons. The length of unbroken thread produced by a single cocoon measures about one-and ahalf kilometers. Being twisted together several of these threads make single woven materials.

Beach Volleyball General Classification Beach volleyball began in California in 1950. At the time some people who had a vacation at the beach came up with an idea. They put up a piece of rope as a net and played volleyball. Shortly afterwards, many women and men liked to play it. Therefore, in 1985 the Volleyball Federation recognized it, and in the following year it organized an international beach volleyball competition in Rio de Jeneiro, Brazil. Beach volleyball and traditional volleyball look the same but actually they are different. What are the similarities and differences between them? The similarities are as follows. Games must be played on the courts of the same size, and they also have nets. The techniques of playing the games are almost the same. Every set of each game consists of 15 points. However, traditional volleyball has more players than beach volleyball. That is, it has 6 players while beach volleyball has only 2 players in each team. Besides, traditional volleyball can be played in a stadium, a sport hall, or anywhere outside. Beach volleyball is only played on the sand at the beach. In Indonesia beach volleyball has begun to be more popular and interesting recently. International competitions have been held in several places such as Bali, Lombok, and Jakarta (Ancol). However, it should be introduced and developed further in other areas in Indonesia, especially areas of beautiful beaches like Maluku, Sulawesi, and Irian Jaya.

Description

Dolphins For many years, many people believed that the cleverest animals after man were the chimpanzees. Now, however, there is proof that dolphins may be even cleverer than these big apes. Although a dolphin lives in the sea it is not a fish. It is a mammal. It is in many ways, therefore, like a human being. Dolphins have a simple language. They are able to talk to one another. It may be possible for man to learn how to talk to dolphins. But this will not be easy because dolphins cannot hear the kind of sounds man can make. If man wants to talk to dolphins, therefore, he will have to make a third language which both he and the dolphins can understand. Dolphins are also very friendly toward man. They often follow ships. There are many stories about dolphins guiding ships through difficult and dangerous water.

Seahorse Many people imagine the sea-horse to be real horse living in the sea. This is not true at all. The sea-horse is so called because it is a tiny creature with a horse liked head which lives in the sea. Sea horse are found mostly in warm seas. They have a long, flexible tail which is used for wrapping around weeds for support. They swim I upright position, their movements being helped by a rapidly oscillating fin on their back. The male sea horse lays her eggs in this pouch. The most remarkable thing about the sea horse is that part of the process of reproduction is taken over by the male creature. One the female sea horse has laid her eggs in the male creatures pouch, she leaves. The hatching of the egg is done by the male fish. Mating begins with the male and the female sea horses doing courtship dance. The male and female creatures swim around each other in circles. At the end of the dance, the male appears to bow to its partner; but in actually, the male is banding to pump water from his pouch. Next, the female fish lays eggs into the males pouch. About two hundred eggs are laid. The pouch, then close up. The female sea-horse now swims away, leaving the male sea-horse to do hatching. The eggs are hatched about a month later. The young sea-horses are ejected from the male creatures pouch by means of muscular contractions. The sea horse feeds on tiny fish the creatures sucking them into its month.