The New Children's Encyclopedia

Amphibians

LIVING WORLD Most amphibians begin life in water breathing
with gills and then venture onto land as adults,
where they breathe using lungs and through GLASS FROG—Frogs have
their skin. They live in damp delicate skin. A glass frog’s skin lacks strong
places, and most return pigment and is almost transparent.
to the water to breed.
There are three groups
of amphibian: frogs
and toads, newts and
salamanders, and caecilians.

Gills, lungs, and skin FAST FACTS
Some salamanders spend their whole lives
in water and may keep their tadpole gills O There are around 6,000 amphibian species.
O Amphibians are cold-blooded, and have
even as adults (although they do have no hair or scales.
lungs as well). Others live entirely on O Most adult amphibians are carnivorous,
land, where some manage without lungs. eating insects, worms, and even birds and
They absorb oxygen directly into their snakes. Tadpoles start life as vegetarians.
bloodstream through their thin skin. O All amphibians lay eggs. Some lay just
Keeping the skin moist helps the oxygen one or two eggs at a time, but others can
pass through. lay up to 50,000.

FROM EGG TO ADULT Bright colors
warn predators
Young amphibians such as this frog hatch
as larvae (tadpoles) that look nothing like 2. TADPOLE This young
their parents. The series of changes that tadpole has yet to develop
take place as a larva grows into an external gills. The gills become
adult is called metamorphosis. internal as the limbs develop.

1. SPAWN 3. FROGLET POISON! Amphibians have
Frog and toad eggs The tadpole first grows glands in their skin that ooze
are laid in clusters back legs, then front toxins. The foul taste deters
or strings protected limbs. The tail begins potential predators and may kill
by a special jelly. to shrink until the them. Some tree frog toxins are used
to make deadly poison-tipped darts.
4. FROG youngster resembles
The adult lives a tiny version of
mostly on land but the adult.
is also happy in
water. It breathes
using lungs and
through its skin.

100

AMPHIBIANS

Golden poison European Tiger
common frog
dart frog salamander
Rana temporaria
Phyllobates terribilis Ambystoma tigrinum

2–5 5–8 16 LIVING WORLD

■ Length 11⁄4–13⁄4 in (3–4.5 cm) ■ Length 21⁄4–31⁄2 in (6–9 cm) ■ Length 6–12 in (15–30 cm)
■ Weight 1⁄8–1⁄4 oz (3–5 g) ■ Weight 1–11⁄4 oz (25–35 g) ■ Weight 4–6 oz (100–150 g)
■ Location Colombia, South America ■ Location Europe ■ Location Most of North America

This frog’s striking colors carry a serious A familiar animal in Europe, the common Like most amphibians, this large
warning. The toxin that secretes from glands frog lives and breeds in pools and damp salamander begins life in
in its skin is the most deadly poison produced places. In climates with harsh winters it water. Most metamorphose
by any vertebrate animal, and predators will may hibernate for several months in a into land-dwelling adults but
avoid contact with moist burrow or in mud at the bottom some manage to mature and breed
the frog at all costs. of a pool. Prey, including slugs, worms, without ever leaving the water.
There are three and insects, are whipped On land, tiger salamanders live
varieties of poison into the frog’s in grasslands or woodland edges,
dart frog—gold (like large mouth
this one), green, with its sticky where they hunt insects, worms,
and orange. tongue. and even mice and frogs.

Oriental fire-bellied frog Emperor newt Caecilian

Bombina orientalis Tylototriton shanjing Gymnopis multiplicata

20 ? ?

■ Length 13⁄4–31⁄4 in (4–8 cm) ■ Length 20 in (17 cm) ■ Length 20 in (50 cm)
■ Weight 3⁄4–1 oz (20–30 g) ■ Weight Exact weight unknown ■ Weight Exact weight unknown
■ Location China, Russia, and Korea ■ Location Yunnan Province, China ■ Location Tropical forests

The magnificent colors of the fire-bellied This handsome newt is at risk in its native This strange legless and eyeless
frog earn the species its name and warn China, where it is collected for food, the creature belongs to the smallest group
predators about the poison glands in its skin. pet trade, and for use in traditional of amphibians, the caecilians. They spend
The frogs live in humid forests and spend medicine. Adults live on land most of the their lives burrowing through the warm,
most of their time wallowing in shallow year, but return to the shallow pool where damp leaf litter or soil of tropical forests.
water. Their vision is limited to detecting they were born to find a mate and lay eggs, Earthworms happen to be the caecilian’s
movement, so potential which are deposited carefully on water favorite prey, which they hunt by smell,
prey that does not weeds. The name “shanjing” means using short tentacles to pick up the
move may be lucky mountain spirit in earthworm’s faint chemical signals.
and get away. Mandarin. Rather than spawning eggs, this species
gives birth to live young that look like
miniature adults.

TAKE A LOOK: FROG FEET

Amphibians usually live in u STICKY FEET Tree u DIRTY FEET Burrowing u WEBBED FEET Common
damp, humid, or sheltered frogs have sticky toe pads frogs have strong feet for loosening frogs have webbed, flipperlike
places, which helps them to provide extra grip. and shoveling soil. hind feet to help them swim.
keep their skin moist. Their
ability to swim, walk, hop,
climb, and even glide
means they are able to live
a wide variety of lifestyles.
The frogs shown here have
feet adapted to very
different habitats.

101

Reptiles

Reptiles are cold-blooded vertebrates

LIVING WORLD that have tough skin covered in scales.

The scales are made of keratin—the same Panther chameleon

material as mammal hair and bird feathers. Furcifer paradalis

There are nearly 8,000 species of reptile, TAKE A PICTURE
A dione ratsnake (Elaphe dione) begins
grouped in four orders. The biggest order “sloughing” its skin. Snakes shed their
skin up to eight times a year.
is snakes and lizards. Western diamondbacked
rattlesnake Crotalus atrox Thorny devil
FEARSOME FANGS
Moloch horridus
Some snakes have venom glands

just behind their fangs. Venom is

used to kill prey, and sometimes in

defense. Baring fangs is a warning

to attackers to back off.

Emerald tree boa (juvenile) BENDING BACKBONE
A snake’s backbone is incredibly
Corallus caninus flexible. Tree boas coil around
branches to rest and to spot
prey. Desert vipers squeeze
under rocks for shade.
Sidewinding snakes zip across
the ground in S-shaped waves.

REPTILE EGGS

Although some snakes and lizards give

REPTILES

SNAKES Jacobson’s organ LIZARDS
There are 4,500 species of lizard, from the enormous
Despite having no limbs, snakes Nostril komodo dragon to the tiny pygmy chameleon. Most LIVING WORLD
are incredible predators. There are Tongue of them have long tails. Some lizards, mostly skinks,
around 2,900 species of snake, have an interesting defense technique: if a predator
and 300 of these are venomous. catches their tail, it can break off so the lizard can run
Other snakes are constrictors: free. Eventually the tail will grow back.
they coil around their prey
and squeeze until it suffocates.

Birds Long, stiff flight feathers
give wings the shape needed
to create lift.

LIVING WORLD There are around 9,700 species Smaller than flight
of bird. Like mammals, they are feathers, contour
warm-blooded vertebrates, but feathers give the bird its
unlike most mammals, they lay streamlined body shape
eggs, their bodies are covered in in flight.
feathers, and most can fly.
Under the contour
FEATHERS FOR FLIGHT feathers on the bird’s
A bird’s feathers not only help to keep the body, a layer of short,
bird warm, but also play an important role in fluffy down feathers
flight by giving the wings and tail the correct keeps the bird warm.
shape. Feathers are made of a substance called
keratin—the same protein found in your
hair and fingernails.

Chisel-shaped Most birds have excellent
bill eyesight. Hawks such as
this one can spy prey from
The bird uses its Red-tailed hawk great distances.
tail feathers as both
brake and rudder. Buteo jamaicensis

Woodpecker

Barbet Conical Bill shapes Birds use their talons as Bird bones
Puff bird bill Birds have no teeth or jaws. weapons and to help them Most animal bones are filled with spongy
Instead, they have a bill made of grip perches. Water birds marrow, but bird bones are hollow, which
Sharp, tough, horny keratin. The bill serves have webbed toes to help makes them light. They are also strong,
slim bill many purposes: it can be a deadly them swim efficiently. thanks to the supporting struts inside.
weapon for stabbing and tearing,
a tool for probing, crushing, or
drilling, and a delicate filter. Most
birds also use their bills for grooming.

FLIGHTLESS BIRDS WOW!

Not all birds fly. Flightlessness can Male common ostriches All birds lay eggs.
be a feature of birds that have few One reason why is that the
natural predators, such as the New Struthio camelus female would struggle to fly
Zealand kiwi. Flying would use a with a brood of heavy chicks
vast amount of energy in very large developing inside her. Most
birds such as ostriches, rheas, birds incubate their eggs by
emus, and cassowaries. Instead,
they invest their energy in running sitting on them. Mother
fast. They also grow too large for birds usually lay a single
most predators to tackle.
egg at a sitting.

104

KEEPING ORDER Ruby-throated Hyacinth macaw LIVING WORLD
hummingbird
There are 29 orders of bird, including: Anodorhynchus hyacinthinus
O Swifts and hummingbirds These fast Archilochus colubris
flyers have tiny legs and feet. 50
O Parrots There are 352 parrot species, 6–9
including macaws and budgerigars. O Length 3¼ ft (100 cm)
O Rheas Flightless rheas have large O Length 2¾–3½ in (7–9 cm) O Wingspan 4 ft (130 cm)
wings, but weak flight muscles. O Wingspan 3–4 in (8–11 cm) O Weight 31⁄3–41⁄2 lb (1.5–2 kg)
O Waders, gulls, and auks Puffins are O Weight 1⁄16–1⁄4 oz (2–6 g) O Location Central South America
one of 344 species in this varied order. O Location North and Central America
O Gamebirds Peafowl are part of this This is the world’s largest
ground-dwelling order. This tiny jewel of a bird uses its specially parrot, though the flightless
O Flamingos The only birds that feed adapted bill to sip nectar from tube-shaped kakapo from New Zealand is
with their heads upside-down. flowers, while it hovers on wings that beat heavier. Sadly, it is also one of
O Waterfowl Webbed feet help ducks about 50 times
and other waterfowl to swim. per second. the rarest of its kind,
O Owls There are 194 owl species. Hummingbirds since it suffered
are among the smallest greatly from
warm-blooded animals overcollection for the pet
on Earth. trade. Its habitat has shrunk
as loggers and farmers fell its
native forests.

Rhea Atlantic puffin Common peafowl

Pterocnemia pennata Fratercula arctica Pavo cristatus

15 17 35

O Height up to 40 in (100 cm) O Length 12 in (30 cm) O Length Male 6–7½ ft (1.8–2.3 m)
O Weight 44 lb (20 kg) O Wingspan 24 in (60 cm) Female 31⁄4 ft (1 m)
O Location South America O Weight 16 oz (450 g)
O Location High Arctic to O Wingspan 4½–5¼ ft (1.4–1.6 m)
Rheas are South the Mediterranean O Weight 8¾–13 lb (4–6 kg)
America’s version of O Location India and Pakistan
the ostrich. They favor Puffins are not the best
open habitats where they flyers and are awkward The male peafowl (a peacock)
can see trouble coming. on land, too—but they are is famous for his magnificent
A male will mate with several expert swimmers, hunting fish tail, which he displays to show off
females and care for all the under water. Outside the his health and vigor. The female
resulting eggs himself, in one breeding season they spend (peahen) has dowdy brown plumage
large nest. all their time at sea. and a short tail. Peafowl eat a varied
diet of seeds, flowers, and insects.

Lesser flamingo Plumed whistling duck Sokoke Scops owl

Phoenicopterus minor Dendrocygna eytoni Otus ireneae

33 15 ?

O Height 311⁄2–351⁄2 in (80–90 cm) O Length 16–23½ in (40–50 cm) O Height 61⁄2–7 in (16–18 cm)
O Wingspan 31⁄4 ft (100 cm) O Weight 1–3¼ lb (0.5–1.5 kg) O Weight 13⁄4 oz (50 g)
O Weight 4½ lb (2 kg) O Location Australia, Indonesia, and Papua New Guinea O Location Kenya and
O Location Africa Tanzania
The plumed whistling duck is named for the
Colonies of lesser ornate plumage on its flanks (sides), and its One of the world’s
flamingos form a spectacle smallest owls, the
when they gather in their distinctive call, which resembles the noise Sokoke Scops owl
thousands to breed in the created by blowing air past a blade of specializes in catching
alkaline lakes of the Rift grass trapped beetles and other insects.
Valley. Each pair produce one It hunts by night and
egg in a nest of baked mud. between two hides by day in thickets
Flamingos feed on blue-green algae, thumbs. It eats grass of scrub. Loss of this
which they filter from the water and weeds.
using a specially adapted bill. habitat means the
Webbed foot owl is threatened
with extinction.

Penguins

LIVING WORLD Agile and speedy in the water, Adélie penguin
penguins more than make up for
their inability to fly. These birds Pygoscelis adeliae
hunt fish, krill, and squid in the
waters of the southern hemisphere. 16
In the warmer months, they come
onto land to breed in large colonies. O Height 16–30 in (40–75 cm)
O Weight 10–12 lb (4–5.5 kg)
Swimming O Location Antarctica
Emperor penguins have sleek,
streamlined bodies and flattened One of the smallest and most
wings, or flippers, to cut through abundant of all penguins, the
the water. Dense feathers and a Adélie spends most of the winter
thick layer of blubber keep them at sea but then comes ashore in the
warm in the icy Antarctic waters. summer to breed. Mating pairs
build nests in large colonies, which
offers protection from egg thieves
such as skuas (seabirds).

Huddling
When they are seven weeks old,
emperor penguin chicks huddle
together in a “creche” to keep
warm. The fluffy gray down
feathers of the chicks also trap
body heat, insulating them from
the cold Antarctic winds.

Yellow-eyed penguin Rockhopper penguin Emperor penguin

Megadyptes antipodes Eudyptes chrysocome Aptenodytes forsteri

23 10 20

O Height 26–28 in (66–70 cm) O Height 20 in (50 cm) O Height 43 in (110 cm)
O Weight 12 lb (5.5 kg) O Weight 5½ lb (2.5 kg) O Weight 77–88 lb (35–40 kg)
O Location New Zealand O Location Sub-Antarctic O Location Antarctica

Fewer than 4,000 of These small, crested Emperor penguins breed in
these rare penguins penguins take their the winter. The female lays
live on the islands common name from the a single egg and leaves it
way they hop as they
of southern New move around their rocky with the male. The male
Zealand. The colonies on the islands of rests the egg on his feet,
striking yellow eye- the sub-Antarctic. under his belly, and
stripe gives them incubates it for about
their common name.
21⁄2 months.

106

Birds of prey MASTER FISHER LIVING WORLD
The osprey is a skilled
These spectacular birds are some of hunter, perfectly adapted
the most efficient predators of the for catching fish.
animal world. Most have large eyes,
excellent hearing, and a keen sense 1. EYE IN THE SKY The osprey
of smell, which they use to good patrols a stretch of water in search
effect when hunting. The smallest of fish, hovering and gliding 230 ft
species hunt insects, but (70 m) or more above the surface.
large raptors, such as
eagles, can kill a young deer. 2. GOTCHA! The osprey spots a fish
near the surface and plunges down
Osprey into the water, grabbing both sides
of its prey with long, curved talons.
Pandion haliaetus
3. DINNER TIME The osprey
25 returns to the nest to feed its young.
The male is the main provider of
O Height 20–23½ in (50–60 cm) food for the female and her chicks.
O Weight 3¾ lb (1.5 kg)
O Diet Fish Bald eagle
O Location Worldwide (except Antarctica)
Haliaeetus leucocephalus
This spectacular bird of prey 20
lives near freshwater rivers
and lakes and coastal O Length 28–38 in
waters, where it has a (71–96 cm)
plentiful supply of its O Weight 6½–14 lb (3–6.5 kg)
favorite food: fish. O Diet Fish, small mammals,
birds, and carrion
Peregrine falcon Griffon vulture O Location North America

Falco peregrinus Gyps fulvus Bald eagles are expert
fishers, swooping down to
15 ? grab fish from the water.
They may also steal the
O Length 13–20 in (34–50 cm) O Length 37–43 in (94–109 cm) catch of another eagle.
O Weight 1–3¼ lb O Weight 13¼–22 lb (6–10 kg)
(0.5–1.5 kg) O Diet Carrion 107
O Diet Small birds
O Location Worldwide O Location North Africa,
(except Antarctica) southern Europe, and Asia

The fastest bird of prey The Griffon vulture
hunts at high speed, does not kill. It is a
reaching a dizzying
220 mph (360 km/h) scavenger, feeding
in a “stoop” (dive). on carrion (dead
animals)—often
the leftovers of
predatory animals.

Fish FISH ORDERS

LIVING WORLD Fish are the biggest and oldest group of vertebrate. Fish are grouped into three orders:
They were the first animals to have backbones, O Jawless fish, such as lampreys,
evolving 500 million years ago. There are around have a suckerlike mouth and no scales.
25,000 species of fish, all of which are cold-blooded Their bodies are supported by
and have bodies that are adapted to living in water. notochords—a basic kind of spine that
is like a flexible rod.
Also called the tail fin, the Dorsal fins give the fish stability, helping it to O Cartilaginous fish include sharks,
caudal fin acts as a paddle, make sudden changes in direction and stopping skates, and rays. Their skeletons are
providing “thrust” to propel it from rolling from side to side. This fish has made of cartilage and their scales
the fish forward. two dorsal fins, but other fish might have three resemble tiny teeth.
separate dorsal fins or just one. O Bony fish are the biggest class of fish.
They have skeletons made of bone.
The trunk, or back end, of the
fish is packed with swimming The gas-filled swim bladder helps the
muscles. It’s these muscle blocks fish control its buoyancy. By inflating or
that make many fish good to eat. deflating its swim bladder, a fish can rise
up or sink in the water.

The skeleton of a bony
fish comprises a

backbone made up of
vertebrae, fine rays to

support the fins,
and a skull.

Horny scales grow from The gills contain a great many There are two sets of paired fins. The pelvic
the skin, providing a blood vessels. Oxygen and fins (shown) help “steer” the fish up and down
flexible protective covering. other gases are exchanged here. in the water, while the pectoral fins (not
shown) may be used for steering and propulsion
The anal fin provides or even for “walking” along the seabed.
stability as the fish swims.

REPRODUCTION

While some fish mate and give birth to live TAKE A LOOK: GILLS
young, most reproduce by releasing eggs

FISH

Blue spotted Common fangtooth Giant LIVING WORLD
stingray sea bass
Anoplogaster cornuta
Taeniura lymma Stereolepis gigas
O Length 6–7 in (15–18 cm)
O Length 27 in (70 cm); up to 61⁄2 ft (2 m) incl. tail O Weight Unknown O Length 8¼ ft (2.5 m)
O Weight Up to 65 lb (30 kg) O Depth 1,600–16,000 ft (500–5,000 m) O Weight 880 lb (400 kg)
O Depth Shallow water to 65 ft (20 m) O Location Oceans worldwide O Depth 15–150 ft (5–45 m)
O Location Indian Ocean, western Pacific, Red Sea O Location Eastern Pacific, from California to Mexico,
Also known as the ogrefish, this ugly-looking and Japan
This relatively common fish lives around fish usually lives at great depths.
tropical coasts and reefs, where it feeds on It detects prey, mainly other These huge fish lurk close to kelp-fringed drop
mollusks and crustaceans hidden on the fish, using its lateral line offs on the rocky coasts of California, Mexico,
sandy seafloor. Like most rays, it “flies” organs—lines of and Japan. An individual may live to the great
through the water using wavelike movements pressure-sensitive
of its large pectoral fins, which give the body cells on the sides age of 100 years, but the species breed so
its disk shape. The long tail bears a sting, of its body that slowly that losses due to overfishing take
used in self-defense. pick up vibrations decades to make up.
in the water.

Clown anemonefish Puffer fish Banded moray eel

Amphiprion ocellaris Diodon sp. Gymnothorax rueppellii

O Length 3–4 in (8–11 cm) O Length 36 in (90 cm) Inflated O Length 32 in (80 cm)
O Depth Up to 50 ft (15 m) O Weight Exact weight unknown O Weight Exact weight
O Location Seas around O Depth 6–160 ft (2–50 m) unknown
southeast Asia and northern Australia O Location Tropical and O Depth 3–130 ft (1–40 m)
subtropical Atlantic, Pacific, and O Location Tropical Indian
These brightly colored little fish live in the Indian Oceans and Pacific Oceans
shallow sheltered lagoons created by coral
reefs. They gain protection from predators When threatened, the puffer Like other morays,
by hiding among the tentacles of this species is an
anemones, which other fish avoid because fish inflates its body into a Deflated aggressive ambush
of their deadly stings. No one knows for spiked ball, making it hunter. By day it hides in
sure how anemonefish keep from being dark crevices on shallow
stung. Anemonefish begin life as males and impossible for all but the reefs and at night lurks in the
change into females once they have reached entrance to its lair, waiting to
a certain size. largest predators to swallow. But even large strike at passing fish or shrimp.

African lungfish predators may avoid eating puffer fish: they Great white shark

Protopterus annectens not only taste awful, but some are also Carcharodon carcharias

poisonous.

Red-bellied piranha

Pygocentrus nattereri

O Length Up to 61⁄2 ft (2 m) O Length 13 in (33 cm) O Length Up to 23 ft (7 m)
O Weight Up to 38 lb (17 kg) O Weight 2 lb (1 kg) O Weight Can reach over 6,600 lb (3,000 kg)
O Location West and Central Africa O Location South America O Depth 0–4,300 ft (0–1,300 m)
O Location Oceans worldwide
Lungfish live in the swamps and backwaters of Famed for their powerful bite and wickedly
sluggish rivers, which often dry up completely sharp teeth, these ferocious freshwater fish Probably the most feared fish in the seas, the
in the dry season. When this happens, the fish live in large schools. Their usual prey great white is a predator of large fish, squid,
survives up to a year in a cocoon of mud, includes other fish and aquatic and seals. Great white sharks are protected,
breathing air with primitive lungs and waiting invertebrates, although they will attack since they were overfished in the past.
to emerge with the next rains. other animals. Their sensitive hearing and
lateral line organs allow them to home in
on disturbances caused by struggling
prey. Piranhas in turn are hunted and
eaten by people.

109

Invertebrates TAKE A LOOK

There are thought to be 5 million species In addition to no Earthworm
of invertebrate roaming the planet— backbones, invertebrates Tenebrionid beetle
that’s 95 percent of all animal life on also have no true jaws.
Earth. They are the world’s most
successful animals and can be found Garden
on land, in the sea, in the air, and even snail
inside your body!
LIVING WORLD WHAT IS AN INVERTEBRATE?
There is a huge variety of invertebrate.
The differences lie not just in the way they look, but Animals without backbones are called
also in their behavior and even the way they move. invertebrates. They have no internal skeleton;
instead, some have an exoskeleton (a hard outer
cover, like a crab or a beetle), some live inside a
shell (such as snails and clams), and some are
divided into soft segments (such as worms).

SPONGES … Yet octopuses are very ANTS are social … But tarantulas CORAL looks … But
are invertebrates intelligent. A female in animals that work live and hunt like a plant monarch
of the simplest captivity learned to together for alone. and barely butterflies
kind: they don’t open jars by copying survival… moves, can fly
even have a her keeper. rooted to the
head or a seabed… 2,500
brain… miles
(4,000
New clothes, please! km) on
Exoskeletons don’t migration
grow even when the every
body inside them year.
does. So as an
invertebrate gets Crab with
pincers raised
bigger, it needs to
shed its shell
and make a
new one.

110

INVERTEBRATE GROUPS INVERTEBRATES LIVING WORLD

In a classification tree of the animal kingdom ( p. 84–85), there is no WITHOUT
group called invertebrates. There is one called vertebrates (it is part of the INVERTEBRATES, the planet
chordates phylum and is split into mammals, birds, etc.)—but there are would not survive. Krill (a type of
more than 30 different main groups of invertebrate, including: crustacean) form the basis of the
food chain in polar seas. Insects such

Amazing arthropods

LIVING WORLD With more than a million species, arthropods 7/7
make up the largest phylum (main group) in
the animal kingdom. They were the first creatures There are as many
to walk on land, more than 400 million years ago. arthropods on Earth as all
other animals put together.

INSECTS ARACHNIDS
Insects have three pairs of legs, and a body made up of
three parts: a head, a thorax, and an abdomen. This Arachnid bodies are made up of two parts.
is the biggest group of arthropods; in fact, 90 They have four pairs of legs, and two pairs
percent of all animal species are insects.
Bugs, butterflies, bees, and beetles of mouthparts: one set look like legs or
are all insects. claws for grabbing prey, while the other
set form pincers or fangs for
WING PATTERNS help some stabbing and killing. They have
species to hide and evade predators. no antennae. Spiders,
scorpions, ticks,
and mites are
all arachnids.

THE IMPERIAL SCORPION uses its
sting in defense and its claws to catch prey.

CENTIPEDES AND MILLIPEDES CRUSTACEANS

These arthropods have a long body Most crustaceans live in water—
divided into many segments. Centipedes including crabs, lobsters, shrimp,
have one pair of legs per segment and and barnacles—although woodlice
millipedes have two pairs per segment. live on land. The species can look
Centipede means “100 feet” and millipede very different: a blue lobster grows
means “1,000 feet,” but different species can to 3 ft (1 m) long, but acorn
have between a dozen and 750 legs. barnacles are a tiny
1⁄2 in (15 mm) across.

SPIDER ATTACK AMAZING ARTHROPODS
There are more than 40,000 species of spider, and
all of them are venomous. Most are harmless to BEWARE OF
people—their venom is deadly only to their prey. THE SPIDER

Trapped! Many spiders LIVING WORLD
do not hunt, but wait for
prey to come to them.
Using sticky silk spun
from a gland in its
abdomen, the orb weaver
spider creates a web to
trap passing insects. The
victim is then killed with
a deadly bite.

Red-kneed tarantula FATAL FANGS Tarantulas bite into Do not disturb Spiders
their prey with hollow fangs, injecting don’t usually attack people,
Euathlus smithi potent venom to paralyze their victim. but some are dangerous if
they are disturbed and bite
30 in self-defense.
Mediterranean black
O Length 4 in (10 cm) widow spiders have
O Legspan 7 in (18 cm) enough venom to kill a
O Prey Insects, mammals, lizards human. Females usually
O Location western central Mexico have the deadliest bite.

The red-kneed tarantula hunts at
night. It can sense smells, tastes,
and vibrations through the ends of
its legs. Females live to 30 years;
males live 3–6 years.

Four-spot orb weaver Peacock parachute spider Fen raft spider

Araneus quadratus Poecilotheria metallica Dolomedes plantarius

? 12 ?

O Length 1⁄4–3⁄4 in (8–17 mm) O Length 21⁄2 in (6 cm) O Length Females 1⁄2–1 in (17–22 mm)
O Legspan Up to 3 in (7 cm) O Legspan 7 in (18 cm) Males 1⁄2–3⁄4 in (13–18 mm)
O Prey Small flying insects O Prey Insects, baby birds, lizards O Legspan Up to 31⁄2 in (9 cm)
O Location Europe and Asia O Location Southern India O Location Europe

Orb weavers spin webs in This spider is also known as the Gooty This spider uses its feet
grasses or scrub. Females sapphire because of its blue coloring. to sense the movement of
can change color over While females live to 12 years, males prey in pools of water—
several days to live only 3–4 years. It is very rare and then it runs across
camouflage themselves. faces extinction because of habitat loss. the water to catch it.

Incredible insects TELL ME MORE...

Insects are the most successful animals on An insect’s body is made up of
three parts: the head, thorax,
Earth. There are more than one million and abdomen. These parts are
linked by the exoskeleton, the
LIVING WORLD known species, but scientists think there circulatory system, soft tissue,

may be millions more still to be Head and nerves, which control
the insect’s body functions.
discovered. Many other The thorax is packed
life-forms rely on insects: with muscle to power The head contains
most plants use them as the legs and wings. sense organs such as
eyes and antennae.
Thorax

pollinators, and lots of

animals are insect-eaters.

The abdomen Abdomen
contains most of the
digestive system and the
reproductive system.

Adult insects respire Most insects have two Insects have
(breathe) by taking in pairs of wings. In this one pair of
air through spiracles— wasp the front and hind antennae, or
openings along the wings are linked. In beetles feelers, which
thorax and abdomen. and many bugs the front they use to explore their
wings form hard cases called environment. Insects use
elytra, which protect the softer their feelers in many
hindwings below. different ways: to touch,
smell, taste, and even hear
(by picking up vibrations
in the air).

TAKE A LOOK: INSECT MOUTHS

Different types of insect eat very Labium
different foods, and so the mouthparts
of each species are suited to different Proboscis Piercing stylet
styles of feeding. Some insects have
jaws shaped into pincers to kill their Spongelike SUCKER Butterflies STABBER Mosquitoes
prey, or tiny clippers for cutting plant labellum uncurl their long, thin have needle-sharp stabbing
leaves. In many other insects the proboscis to use as a straw mouthparts for piercing
jaws are replaced by other SPONGER Flies for sucking up nectar. skin and sucking up blood.
specialized mouthparts. soak up liquid foods
through a spongy tube.

114

LADYBUG LIFECYCLE INCREDIBLE INSECTS

1. EGG LAYING Insects Warning colors Monarch LIVING WORLD
reproduce by laying eggs. Many insects protect Danaus plexippus
After mating, a female themselves from predators
ladybug lays her eggs on a by storing toxins in their Viceroy
leaf. About a week later, the bodies. They then warn Limenitis archippus
larvae emerge. predators by displaying
bright colors, usually red,
2. HATCHING The orange, or yellow.
larvae look nothing Monarch and viceroy
like their parents! butterflies, which look
They have a soft similar, both benefit from
body covering, a color and pattern that
called a cuticle, say “I taste really bad!”
which soon
hardens and Insect camouflage
turns dark. Another great way of
avoiding being eaten
3. GROWING The larva is to make yourself
must eat lots of food to invisible. Many insects
grow. Over about four are masters of disguise,
weeks it will kill and eat able to hide in full view
hundreds of sap-sucking of predators by blending
aphids. in perfectly with their
background. Can you
4. PUPATING When the spot this moth?
larva is ready to pupate, it
fixes itself to the underside Rustic sphinx moth Manduca rustica
of a leaf and sheds its skin,
revealing a soft cuticle IS IT A BEE OR WASP?
underneath. This “pupal
cuticle” takes about a week There are many differences between these similar-looking insects.
to turn hard and dark. The
larva does not move during O There are about 20,000 O There are around 75,000
this time. bee species. species of wasp.
O Social bees live in colonies in O Social wasps live in nests made
5. EMERGENCE nests made of beeswax. out of paper, which they make by
A week later, the pupal O Bees feed on nectar and chewing wood.
cuticle splits open and a pollen from plants. O Wasps eat other insects.
new adult ladybug crawls O Bees have hairier bodies O Wasps are more brightly colored
out. To begin with, its body than wasps. than bees.
and wing cases are soft O A bee can sting only once— O A wasp’s sting can be used many
and lack the typical the sting is ripped out of the times. Like bees, only females have
bright color and spots. bee’s abdomen and left behind a stinger. It is adapted from her
in the victim. The bee will die ovipositor—the tube through which
soon after. she lays her eggs.

6. ADULT The new adult’s Bees feed on nectar... ... but wasps eat other insects.
wing cases expand and
harden into a protective 115
shield. The color darkens
and the distinctive ladybug
spots appear. The
cycle can now
begin again.

LIVING WORLD Bugs and
beetles
Lantern bug Assassin bug
The word “bug” is often used to
mean any creepy-crawly, but it is Phrictus quinquepartitus Eulyes illustris
actually an order of a particular kind of
insect. This order is called Hemiptera, and it has 7/7
82,000 species. Beetles are not the same as bugs:
they have their own order, Coleoptera. There are All the insects you see
370,000 beetle species—that’s one-third of all here are life-size. The
known insect species. giant water bug is the
world’s longest bug,
BUGS but it’s dwarfed by the

Cotton stainer Hercules beetle.
bug Cicada

Dysdercus decussatus Angamiana aetherea

Water scorpion Squash bug Giant water bug Bed bug Leaf hopper
(magnified x 2)
Nepa sp. Coreus marginatus Lethocerus grandis Cicadella viridis
Cimex lectularius

HOW CAN YOU TELL IF IT’S A BUG? Lacewing Adult
nymph lacewing
Bugs have two pairs of
wings and a beaklike Bugs have incomplete
mouth for piercing metamorphosis: they start life
and sucking up food. as nymphs that look similar to
the adult form, but without

BUGS AND BEETLES

BEETLES Seven-spotted
ladybug
Leaf beetle
Cocinella
Calligrapha septempuntacta
dislocata
LIVING WORLD
Weevil
Ten-spotted Stag beetle
Eupholus bennetti ground beetle
Lucanus cervus
Thermophilum
decemguttatum Tortoise beetle

Eugenysa regalis

Diving beetle

Dytiscus marginalis

Shining Hercules beetle
fungus beetle
Dynastes hercules
Scaphidium
quadrimaculatum

Click beetle Giant
harlequin beetle
Chalcolepidius limbatus
Acrocinus longimanus

HOW CAN YOU TELL IF IT’S A BEETLE?

Beetles have elytra that Beetles have complete metamorphosis: they start life as a

meet in the middle of larva, then change to a pupa, and finally become an adult.

the body. Elytra are hard Larva and pupa look different from the adult.

forewings that fold over ... pupa... ... and adult

the soft hindwings,

Elytra Black forming a protective
jewel beetle
case. Stag beetle larva...

117

Marine invertebrates

LIVING WORLD Huge numbers of invertebrates live Day octopus
in the sea. Some, such as corals and
sponges, live fixed to the spot, but Octopus cyanea
others, including jellyfish and squid,
drift in midwater. Starfish and crabs O Size Body: 6¼ in (16 cm); arms 32 in (80 cm)
creep and scuttle on the seabed O Location Indo-pacific region
everywhere from sunlit shallows
to pitch black depths. Unlike most other octopuses this
animal hunts by day, using changing
body patterns to disguise itself. Its
preferred foods include clams, shrimp,
crabs, and fish.

OCTOPUS ANATOMY The octopus’s eight arms
Octopuses belong to a group of mollusks bear rows of suckers that
called cephalopods, thought to be the grip onto rocks—and also
smartest of all invertebrates. Some onto prey.
cephalopods have an external shell, but
in others the shell is internal. Most of
an octopus’s organs are inside its head,
including its digestive system and gills.

OCTOPUSES
generally crawl on the
seabed, but also use
arm movements and a
form of jet propulsion
to swim in open water.

TAKE A LOOK: COLORFUL CHARACTERS

Octopuses can change color rapidly, ESCAPE An octopus releases MOUTH The octopus’s mouth
adopting different patterns to ink over a potential threat. is a stretchy circular opening.
communicate emotions and to Inside is a sharp beak made of
camouflage themselves on the horn, used for tearing up prey.
seafloor to avoid predators. If the
camouflage doesn’t work, they squirt
out a jet of ink. Hidden in the
cloud, they can escape from danger.

118

Red general starfish Horned ghost crab MARINE INVERTEBRATES

Protoreaster linckii Ocypode ceratophthalmus Yellow tube sponge

Aplysina fistularis

O Diameter Up to 12 in O Width 2½-3 in (6–8 cm) O Height Up to 24 in (61 cm) LIVING WORLD
O Location Indian and Pacific Oceans
(30 cm) O Location Tropical seas
Ghost crabs live on sandy beaches,
O Location Indian Ocean where they feed on organic matter Sponges are among the simplest of
washed up by the tide. They scuttle animals. Yellow tube sponges have a
Like most starfish, the and burrow at such speed that they chimney-shaped body supported by
red general is a slow- sometimes seem to disappear. a flexible skeleton made of protein.
moving predator. It creeps over reefs Some other species
and rocks on hundreds of tiny, may have more
suckered, tube feet, hunting small rigid skeletal parts.
clams, tubeworms, sponges, and other Water is drawn in
fixed invertebrates. It feeds by through pores
covering the prey with its body and in the tube.
pushing its stomach out through its
mouth (in the middle of the star).

Sea slug European lobster Elkhorn coral

Chromodoris kuniei Homarus gammarus Acropora palmata

O Length 2 in (5 cm) O Length 24–40 in (60–100 cm) O Size Up to 10 ft (3 m) across

O Location Western Pacific Ocean O Location European coasts O Location Caribbean Sea

Sea slugs, also known as nudibranchs, This powerful This brittle structure is not a single
are shell-less relatives of snails. They cousin of shrimp animal, but a colony of thousands, all
are carnivorous and hunt by gliding and crabs lurks growing on a stony base that they
through coral reefs in search of prey in rocky lairs by build themselves. Each tiny coral
that cannot escape, such day, emerging at animal, or polyp, has a simple
as sponges, night to hunt smaller invertebrates bag shape, with a mouth at the
barnacles, and fish using its sensitive antennae top surrounded by
and and large claws. Like other tiny tentacles.
corals. crustaceans, lobsters must shed their
rigid body armor in order to grow.

Dahlia anemone Lion’s mane jellyfish

Urticina felina Cyanea capillata

O Width 10–14 in (25–35 cm) O Width Up to 6½ ft (2 m)

O Location Northern hemisphere coastal waters O Location Cool northern seas

The dahlia anemone’s colorful, Named for the mass
flowerlike body grows attached of brown frills on
to a rock or other hard surface. its central arms, the
The tentacles bear tiny lion’s mane jelly is
stinging cells that common in northern
paralyse small seas and is often washed
animals. Food ashore in storms. Jellyfish lack
caught this any kind of brain, but their simple
way is passed design has been successful for
to the mouth. 500 million years.

What are you doing here?

Birds that can’t fly and reptiles that appear to; snakes that live in the sea
and fish out of water... Sometimes animals just don’t seem to behave
how you might expect them to!
LIVING WORLD
Only birds, bats, and insects are FLYING GECKO
AIR capable of true flight, but several Flaps of skin, webbed feet,
other kinds of animal have developed and a flat tail help the gecko
the ability to control long glides control glides from tree to tree.
through the air.

GOLDEN TREESNAKE
By spreading its rib cage, this
amazing snake turns its whole
body into a ribbonlike glider.

LAND Sometimes life on land is the

TAKE A LOOK: FROM SEA TO TREE WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE? LIVING WORLD

The coconut crab is the largest A DIFFERENT APPROACH
arthropod on land. It it a We’re used to seeing certain animals in particular
confident but careful climber and places, but in the struggle for life, many animals
can climb up palm trees to find that they can gain an advantage by exploiting
collect fresh coconuts. It will a completely different environment. They may
crack these open with its huge have developed their extraordinary behavior as
claws to get to the flesh inside. a way of finding food, of escaping predators, or
simply to stay alive.
Coconut crab Birgus latro

LIVING WORLD Microlife

Some living things, such as elephants and oak trees, are difficult to miss
if you’re standing next to one, but others are much harder to see. There
are thousands of species of microscopic organism living in the air, on
land, and in water all around you, and on
your body, too!

WHAT’S IN THE WATER?

MICROLIFE

BRILLIANT BACTERIA Bacterial Flagellum Penicillin colony

Bacteria are an essential part of cell Cytoplasm POWERFUL PENICILLIN
life on Earth. Some types live in If you have an illness, your
soil and release nitrates, without Cell TELL ME MORE... doctor might give you penicillin.
which plants would not grow and wall This is an antibiotic—a
the food chain would collapse. In 1862, French scientist medicine that kills bacteria. LIVING WORLD
Other types live in your Louis Pasteur created a In 1928, scientist Alexander
intestines, helping you digest way of killing bacteria Fleming found a dish of bacteria
your food. But bacteria can also with heat. This process, with a type of mold growing
be harmful, causing dangerous called pasteurization, is on it. Where the mold grew,
diseases in all kinds of plants and still used today. the bacteria had died. From
animals, including people. this discovery, Fleming
developed penicillin.
Cell membrane
7/7
MINI MONSTERS There are around 30,000
Ticks and mites belong to the same species of tick and mite, most of
class of invertebrate as spiders, the which are less than 1⁄32 in (1 mm)
long. They can be found in stored

CRAB LARVA Many arachnids. They are parasites, living food such as flour and cheese; in

animals start life as and feeding on plants or other animal dung; and skin, hair, and fur.
microscopic larvae. Crab animals, known as hosts. Some They feed on plants and on the
larvae find a place to settle as species destroy crops, while others skin and blood of host
a tiny crab, where they can pass on diseases. animals.
then grow to be an adult.

MEAL
MITE
Many of the
foods you eat
probably contain
the remains of mites
like this one, which

feeds on stored cereal
products such as flour
and oatmeal.

LIVING WORLD Animals of the past

The most famous prehistoric animals have got to be the
dinosaurs—but they lived many hundreds of thousands
of years after the first life-forms appeared on Earth. It is
thought that life first appeared on Earth around
3.8 billion years ago. They were small,
single-celled organisms called
prokaryotes. Some prokaryotes
survive today in the form
of cyanobacteria.

WHAT WAS A DINOSAUR?

The word “dinosaur” means “terrible

lizard.” These reptiles ruled the Earth for 7/7
more than 160 million years until around
65 million years ago. But not all dinosaurs In Precambrian times,
were terrible: many were herbivorous, not prokaryotes grew in colonies that
carnivorous, and while many were huge spread out like mats, absorbing
and ferocious, there were also some that sunlight so they could photosynthesize.
were no bigger than a chicken. Billions of years later, their fossilized

DINKY DINOSAUR remains still exist. These stony
The plant-eating Lesothosaurus is platforms are called stromatolites,
thought to be the smallest dinosaur.
and some can be found off the
coast of northwest
Australia.

TIMELINE OF PREHISTORIC LIFE History is divided into different periods of time. MYA = million years ago.

PRECAMBRIAN CAMBRIAN ORDOVICIAN SILURIAN DEVONIAN CARBONIFEROUS
4.6 BYA545 MYA 545490 MYA 490445 MYA 445415 MYA 415355 MYA 355290 MYA

The first forms of life The first multicelled The first crustaceans Evolution of the first The “Age of Fishes,” Flying insects
appeared on Earth: and hard-bodied life and jawless fish fish with jaws, and when fish diversified and amphibians
simple, single-celled developed, including evolve. giant sea scorpions— rapidly. The first lived in swampy
prokaryotes. mollusks and arthropods the ancestors of amphibians evolved forests during
such as trilobites. modern arachnids. from fish, becoming this warm
the first vertebrates period, but
to live on land. reptiles ruled
the land.

124

HIP, HIP Bird-hipped ANIMALS OF THE PAST LIVING WORLD
There were two types of dinosaur, Iguanodon
classified by the shape of their hip FAST FACTS
bones: bird-hipped (ornithischians), Lizard-hipped
and lizard-hipped (saurischians). T. rex O Scientists that study the history of life on
Birds actually evolved from the lizard- Earth are called paleontologists.
hipped dinosaurs. ( p. 244.) O The term “dinosaur” only refers to a certain
type of land-based reptile. Those that flew or
What is a fossil? lived in the sea are not dinosaurs, but
Paleontologists use fossils to figure out what different reptiles.
early life-forms would have looked like. O There are about 700 named dinosaur species.
Most fossils form when the remains of an O The first dinosaur fossils were Iguanodon
animal or plant get buried in sediment teeth and bones, found in England in the 1820s.
(sand or mud). Over time, the remains are O The first complete dinosaur skeletons were
replaced by minerals in the sediment, which of 32 Iguanodons, found in a coal mine in
keep the shape of the animal or plant. Belgium in 1878.
O The first dinosaur to be named was the
Megalosaurus, in 1824.
O The oldest dinosaur fossils discovered to
date are 230 million years old.

Fossil of a Pterodactylus Dimorphodon Dimetrodon

Tyrannosaurus rex “Two-form tooth” “Two types of teeth”

“King of the tyrant lizards” O Wingspan 4–8 ft O Length up to 11½ ft (3.5 m)

O Length 39 ft (12 m) (1.2–2.5 m) O Time Early Permian
O Time Late Cretaceous
O Fossil location North O Time Early Jurassic O Fossil location Europe and
America
O Fossil location Europe and North America
Like all life-forms,
dinosaur species have North America Dimetrodon was a sail-backed
scientific names, which synapsid. The sail probably helped it
are written in Latin. The Dimorphodon was not a dinosaur, but warm up and cool down. Synapsids
name may reflect what a pterosaur—a flying reptile. It had were cold-blooded
the species looked like, and scaly like
or a characteristic—as an enormous skull and reptiles, but they
with T. rex, one of the differently sized teeth in its are actually the
largest and fiercest bill—large, pointed teeth at ancestors of
meat-eating dinosaurs. the front, and small teeth at the back. mammals.
It ate fish, insects, and small animals,
but no one knows if it caught its prey
while flying or standing on all fours.

PERMIAN TRIASSIC JURASSIC CRETACEOUS TERTIARY QUATERNARY
290250 MYA 250200 MYA 200140 MYA 14065 MYA 651.6 MYA 1.6 MYA TO PRESENT

Sail-back synapsids The first dinosaurs, The first bird, Dinosaurs die out. The first appearance The first modern
appeared. early mammals, Archaeopteryx, evolved The first modern of many of today’s human.
turtles, and frogs mammals take over. creatures, from dogs
appeared. from the and cats to apes and
dinosaurs. elephants.

125

CONTINENTS OF CONTINENTS
THE WORLD
of the WORLD

People naturally inhabit all continents except one: Antarctica.
The Arctic is not a continent because it is not solid land—it is mostly frozen sea.
Asia, the biggest continent, stretches from the Arctic circle to the equator.
North and South America were named after the Italian explorer Amerigo Vespucci.
Africa contains 53 countries (including islands)—more than any other continent.

At what event Which
does a cowboy countries
test his skills? are the richest in
Find out on pages the world?
132—133 Find out on pages
144—145

Definition: The continents CONTINENTS OF
THE WORLD
are Earth’s major landmasses.
There are seven continents:
North America, South
America, Africa, Europe, Asia,
Australasia, and Antarctica.

Europe holds the world’s smallest country: Vatican City, Italy, is 1⁄5 sq mile (.44 sq km).
South America’s largest country, Brazil, covers more than half the continent’s area.
When the Earth first formed, all the continents were joined into one big one.
There are areas of desert on all seven of Earth’s continents.
Aside from Antarctica, Australasia is the most sparsely populated continent.

In what Where in the
mountain world does classical
range would you dancing look like this?
find llamas? Find out on pages 148—149
Find out on
pages 136—137

Our world

Just one-third of the Earth’s surface is land; the rest is

covered by water. The land is divided into seven vast

CONTINENTS OF landmasses (continents): North America, South America,
THE WORLD
Europe, Asia, Africa, Australasia, and Antarctica. EARTH A night map shows those parts of
the world with plentiful electricity supplies.

30°W 0° 30°E 60°E 90°E 120°E

Arctic Circle
60°N

EUROPE

30°N ASIA
Tropic of Cancer
INDIAN
AFRICA OCEAN

Equator

ATL A N TIC

OCEAN

Tropic of Capricorn
30°S

60°S SOUTHERN OCEAN
Antarctic Circle

30°W 0° 30°E A N TA R C T I C A

128 60°E 90°E 120°E

OUR WORLD

FAST FACTS KEY TO MAPS

O World population 6,756 million Capital city N North compass
(January 2009) State city
O Independent countries 193 State border 0 km 500
O Dependent territories 50 Coast line
O Continents 7 River 0 miles 500
O Oceans 5 Mountain
O Largest continent Asia Scale CONTINENTS OF
O Smallest continent Australasia THE WOLRD
Note: Only main
languages are given.

150°E 180° 150°W 120°W 90°W 60°W

ARCTIC OCEAN

Arctic Circle
60°N

NORTH
AMERICA

A T L A N T I C 30°N

Tropic of Cancer

OCEAN

PA C I F I C Equator
OCEAN
SOUTH
& OCEANIA AMERICA

Tropic of Capricorn
30°S

SOUTHERN OCEAN 60°S
Antarctic Circle
150°E 180° 150°W 120°W 90°W
60°W

129

North America ASIA

Stretching from the Arctic Circle to the tropics, Bering Strait

CONTINENTS OF North America is the third-largest continent. UNITED STATES
THE WORLD OF AMERICA
Two countries, Canada and the United States, Aleutian Bering ALASKA
take up three-quarters of the continent, which also includes Mt. McKinley
Sea
20,322ft (6194m)
Islands Anchorage
Mexico, seven Central American countries, and the Caribbean Islands.

NORTH AMERICAN FACTS How many people? Gulf of
About 529 million people live in North Alaska
O Covers 16.5 percent of Earth’s land area America, more than half of them in the
O Number of countries 23 United States. Barbados is the most HAWAII The Hawaiian Islands lie
O Biggest country Canada densely populated country, with in the central Pacific Ocean but are
O Smallest country St. Kitts and Nevis 1,658 people per square mile part of the United States.
O Languages English, Spanish, French (640 people per km²).
O Population of continent Estimated at Ka uSaT‘Ai TEOS‘HahauwHoanioilaunluPOIAslCaCnEdIsFA IC
529 million Population density UNITED N
O Largest North American city Mexico People per km²
City, Mexico (0.39 per square mile) OF AMERICA Maui
O Highest point Mount McKinley (Denali)
in Alaska, at 20,320 ft (6,194 m) below 50 HAWAII
O Longest river the Mississippi-Missouri in 50-90
the US, at 3,740 miles (6,019 km) 100-149 0 km 200 Hawai‘i
O Biggest lake Lake Superior, situated 150-199
between the US and Canada, is the world’s 200-299 0 miles 200
largest freshwater lake, with a surface area of above 300
31,820 sq miles (82,400 sq km²) INUIT PEOPLE have lived in
the Arctic for centuries, surviving
THE POLAR REGION by hunting fish, seals, walruses,
The climate in the Arctic is harsh— and whales. Today, most Inuit live
average winter temperatures can be in towns or small settlements.
as low as -40°F (-40°C), and in
midwinter the Sun never rises.
Parts of the region are permanently
covered by ice. Despite this, the
Arctic is home to many animals,
including polar bears and seals.

EXTENT OF THE ARCTIC

The Arctic region includes
Greenland, northern
Canada and Alaska, as
well as the northernmost
parts of Europe and
Asia, and a huge area
of frozen ocean around
the North Pole.

N ARCTIC

0 km 1000 OCEAN FAMOUS PLACES

0 miles 1000 O The Rockies are the highest and
longest mountain range in North
The Bering Strait separates Ellesmere Greenland America, stretching for 3,000 miles
North America from Asia and Island (4,800 km) through Canada and the
is just 53 miles wide (85 km). (to Denmark) United States.

Beaufort Baffin O Death Valley, on the border of CONTINENTS OF
Sea Bay Nevada and California, is the THE WOLRD
continent’s hottest, lowest place.
Mackenzie Mountains Victoria Island Baffin Island Davis S

Mackenzie NUUK

YUKON Great Bear Foxe trait O The San Andreas Fault in
TERRITORY Lake Basin California marks the place where
two of the plates that make up the
NORTHWEST NUNAVUT Hudson Strait Labrador Earth’s crust meet. Movement here
TERRITORIES Sea

Yellowknife

R Great Slave causes frequent earthquakes.
Lake

o Lake Hudson NEWFOUNDLAND
Athabasca Bay AND LABRADOR
BRITISH

c CANADA Measured by the

COLUMBIA

k Reindeer Lake St.John’s length of its shoreline,

ALBERTA Newfoundland Hudson Bay in
Edmonton
y MANITOBA QUÉBEC
Vancouver Lake Winnipeg Québec
Island PRINCE northern Canada is
Vancouver EDWARD
Seattle ISLAND St Pierre & Miquelon the world’s largest bay.
(to France)

Mountains SASKATCHEWAN ONTARIO NEW N
BRUNSWICK
Regina Winnipeg St. Lawrence
Halifax
O
C
E
A
WASHINGTON Lake Superior Montréal MAINE NOVA The Caribbean
SCOTIA
MONTANA DESADSONKANUOROKTERTHOBTATKTROHIAAAKNASLCSKAAArHiTSOMAMINAEIANOSREWaMKSSiAAnOIStNTWSLASoOIASuCUIiSChsLIMRnOiLcIdIiNaNcihagSLOMinoIgaMINaaTSekIpnNEIemCoNDplHDiKNIshIAeEGiEstNNSrALoATSNaiUtPEkVATCEOietIoptKHRHsrYAGWobIuOntuIOrlNEotarPoTgSnLnIEAhTTtaaNAkLCeNWCaASOASNkNRVAOenYREOOIUMtLEROWaRLVTrGLrAIPTiAiHNIVeIYohHRNNNEOAiYWAlIIRaRALAMdAKAeNNSOlpEHDNNhNWITeiNEawJWGBDMETYoREoHOAsSLrAtNkSAoEMSnWYDAPCACRCSROHHHENOUIRNDSEEEETCITSTSLICAUNtnTrDuoCimpnaihbcmrIainerablearbebkts7iMohtfteeo,sfeea0orduidn0msns,pTeut0ibpshtms1a,huieero3scnemterlfaaedcttCltneehloeoaerndaneurodrmestnhib,shbmttomiiierutbgsnirlogreaebertrrealsityhiletrnscaost,hato,norSnhaunitdeneeahbgeassndaeees..,

OREGON UNITED

IDAHO

WYOMING Missou Rio Grande

CALIFORNIA Great Salt Lake palachian Mountains
orado
NEVADA UTAH Col Denver ATLANTIC
San Francisco

Mount Whitney COLORADO
14,495ft (4418m )

Las Vegas Mississippi

O F A MLos Angeles

San Diego ARIZONA NEW MEXICO

Tijuana MISSISSIPPI GEORGIA that can do great damage.
ALABAMA
CL o w e r Dallas

TEXAS LOUISIANA FLORIDA

C Houston New Orleans Orlando Anguilla (to UK)
Mississippi British Virgin Islands ST KITTS & NEVIS
Gu Chihuahua
ali
Delta NASSAU Virgin Islands (to US) (to UK) ANTIGUA &
l BARBUDA
f

PA C f Miami
o

of Gulf of B A H A M A S Turks & Caicos Guadeloupe
rn Islands (to UK) (to France)

O C Puerto Rico
ia DOMINICAN (to US)

IF a Monterrey Guantanamo Bay DOMINICA
A Durango (to US)
l HAVANA Martinique
N (to France)
i Mexico
ST LUCIA
E f Mérida
Yucatan
I o Peninsula CUBA REPUBLIC
HAITI
r ME X ICO SAN JUAN
Montserrat
C n Tampico

i

a PORT-AU-PRINCE SANTO (to UK)

León Cayman Islands JAMAICA Navassa DOMINGO ST VINCENT & BARBADOS

Guadalajara (to UK) Island (to US) THE GRENADINES GRENADA
KINGSTON
MEXICO CITY
Aruba TRINIDAD & TOBAGO
Villahermosa BELIZE Caribbean (to Neth.) PORT-OF-
Acapulco Sea SPAIN
BELMOPAN
Netherlands Antilles
GUATEMALA HONDURAS (to Neth.)

Life in North America

CONTINENTS OF The first people crossed from Asia to modern-day FAMOUS NORTH AMERICANS
THE WORLD Alaska thousands of years ago. Today’s North
Americans include the descendants of Native peoples, O Barack Obama (born 1961) The first
European settlers, and African slaves. African-American president of the United
States, elected in 2008 after promising to
Cattle ranching INDUSTRY bring change to the country.
The cowboys made famous in movies North American companies O Amelia Earhart (1897–1937) American
were ranch hands employed to round have been responsible for the pioneer of flying, and the first woman to fly
up and drive the large herds of cattle invention of the silicon chip, the solo across the Atlantic (in 1928).
in the American West. Cattle are still microprocessor, the iPod, O Frida Kahlo (1907–54) Mexican artist
raised for their meat in the United and many other advances in who is famous for her self-portraits,
States and Canada. computer technology. painted in vibrant colors.
O Sir Frederick Banting (1891–1941)
LANDSCAPE and Charles Best (1899–1978) Canadian
North America contains a huge scientists who discovered insulin, a drug
variety of landscapes. Many areas now used to treat millions of people who
are popular tourist destinations. suffer from diabetes.

RANCH Cattle are now raised on large
ranches, like this one in Alberta, Canada.

MUSIC CAR CULTURE LIFE IN NORTH AMERICA CONTINENTS OF
The United States is the birthplace THE WOLRD
of some of the world’s most People in the United States and DID YOU KNOW?
popular styles of music, including Canada own a lot of cars—19 FASCINATING FACTS
jazz, rock and roll, blues, hip-hop, million new ones were sold in 2007,
and country music. Jazz, blues, and in the US there is more than one 1Canada’s 151,000-mile
and rock all evolved from the car on the road for every licensed (243,000-km) coastline is the
blending of African and European driver. Many of these vehicles are longest of any country in the world.
musical styles that started in built in Detroit, Michigan, although
communities in the South. the US car industry has lost ground to (214531,0,00000kmmi)les
foreign competitors in recent years.

Basketball SPORTS

is a sport using a The most 2Alaska used to
ball and hoops and popular belong to Russia.
two teams of five spectator The United States
players. The game was sports in the bought it from the
first played in the Russians in 1867 for a
bargain price of just two
1890s. United States are American towns are designed around the cents per acre (.0040 km²).
car, with streets laid out in a grid pattern.
basketball, baseball, 3America is
NATIVE AMERICANS named after the
football, and ice hockey. Fans Native Americans are the descendants Italian Amerigo
of the original inhabitants of North Vespucci, who was
often show intense dedication America. There are about two million one of the first
Native people living in the US today European explorers
to their local teams, even and one million in Canada. to travel to the
New World.
wearing costumes and face

paint. In Mexico and Central

America, soccer is the most

important sport.

Football is a contact sport in which tackling is When Europeans first arrived in North America in 4The five Great
essential, so players wear helmets and pads to the 1500s, they thought they were in Asia and Lakes on the
protect themselves from injury. called the Native people Indians. The term US-Canadian border
“American Indian” was born. are the largest group
of freshwater lakes
in the world. They
cover an area about
the same size as
the United Kingdom.

5Chocolate first appeared in
Mexico and Central America at
least 1,600 years ago, as a bitter-
tasting drink called xocolatl.

South America

CONTINENTS OF South America is the fourth- Population density
THE WORLD largest continent. It contains the People per km² (0.39 mile²)
world’s longest mountain range,
biggest rain forest, driest desert, and highest below 50
waterfall. It is also home to a vast range of plants 50-90
and animals, and to 382 million people. 100-149
150-199
SOUTH AMERICAN FACTS THE AMAZON 200-299
The Amazon is the world’s above 300
■ Covers approximately 12 percent of Earth’s second-longest river and the
land area largest by volume. It pours so How many people?
■ Number of countries 12 much water into the Atlantic that About six percent of the total world
■ Biggest country Brazil drinkable water can be drawn out population live in South America.
■ Smallest independent country Surinam of the ocean three-quarters of a Brazil is the largest country and has
■ Languages Spanish, Portuguese, French, mile (1 km) from the river’s mouth. the biggest population, while Colombia
Dutch, and many native Indian languages and Ecuador are the most densely
■ Population of continent Estimated at populated countries.
382 million
■ Largest South American city Sao Paulo,
Brazil
■ Highest point Cerro Aconcagua in
Argentina, at 22,833 ft (6,959 m)
■ Longest river the Amazon is
approximately 4,000 miles (6,437 km) long
■ Biggest lake Lake Titicaca, situated
between Peru and Bolivia

THREATENED ZONES u FOREST The Amazon is u CATTLE RANCHING
surrounded by the biggest tropical rain Vast areas of forest are being
The total area lost to forest clearance in forest on Earth, home to a huge cut down each year to clear
the Amazon is at least 227,000 miles² variety of wildlife and groups of land for cattle ranches,
(587,000 km²)—that’s bigger than France. native peoples. threatening the area’s
delicate ecosystem.

. HABITAT The weather ANIMALS IN THE AMAZON
in the rain forest is hot and
humid all year round. One in ten of the world’s known species
of plant and animal live in the Amazon
rain forest, including:
■ 40,000 species of plant
■ 3,000 species of fish
■ 1,294 species of bird
■ 427 species of mammal
■ 428 species of amphibian
■ 378 species of reptile

The area around Lake Maracaibo The Orinoco is one of the N

in Venezuela contains large largest rivers in South America

deposits of oil. Caribbean Sea (though no river there comes
close to the length of the
Amazon!). It is 1,330 miles 0 km 500

Barranquilla Maracaibo Valencia CARACAS (2,140 km) long.
Gulf of
Cartagena Lake Barquisimeto 0 miles 500

A M E R I C A C O L O M B I ADarien Maracaibo o s Orinoco Ciudad Guayana Venezuelan
Gulf VENEZ
of territorial
claim

Magdalena Cúcuta a n UELA GEORGETOWN

l Guiana GUYANA PARAMARIBO CONTINENTS OF
Panama Medellín L THE WOLRD
Boa Vista CAYENNE AOTCLEAANNT I C
BOGOTÁ SURINAM
French
Cali H Surinamese Guiana

i g h l territorial (to France)
claims
Branco a
nds
Esmeraldas Macapá
Río Negro
Caqueta
QUITO A m a z o n Represa Amazon
Balbina Santarém
ECUADOR B a s i nAmazPoutumayo Belém
Amazon Manaus Tocantins São Luís
Guayaquil Iquitos Purus M Fortaleza
adeira paj
n Ta

Juruá ós

Xingu

Ucayali Natal

A Araguaia
Tocantins
Trujillo P E R U Rio Branco Porto Velho Represa de Recife
Sobradinho
Palmas

n

The highlands of Callao dB Madre de Dios RA ZIL ão Francisco
Colombia are one of LIMA
the wettest places in the Planalto de BRASÍLIA Highlands
world, with one town, PAC I F I C e BOLIVIA Mato Grosso S Salvador
Tutunendo, averaging
448 in (11,394 mm) of Cuiabá Goiânia
rain each year.
Lake LA PAZ
Titicaca
sArequipa Santa Cruz Brazilian

Arica Lago SUCRE Paraguay AY
Antofagasta Poopó Pil
A t a c a m a D e s e r tE oPARAGU Campo Grande

The Atacama Desert es comay Paraná Belo Horizonte
This desert stretches along
the western coast of Chile OCEAN SaltaGran Chaco ASUNCIÓN São Paulo Rio de Janeiro
and is the driest place on Ciudad del Este Curitiba
Earth. In some parts of the The Pampas is a
Atacama, no rainfall has Resistencia huge grassy plain that
ever been recorded. stretches across northern
IN Paraná Florianópolis Argentina and Uruguay.
A
FAMOUS PLACES La SerenaL Córdoba Uruguay Porto Alegre
Rosario
O Cape Horn is the southernmost Cerro Aconcagua Mendozad BUENOS AIRES URUGUAY
tip of South America. The seas 22,830ft (6959m) R MONTEVIDEO
around the cape are extremely
dangerous because of high winds, Valparaíso SANTIAGO
huge waves, and strong currents.
CHIAn T Pampas ío de la Plata
O At about 4,400 miles (7,000 km)
long, the Andes are the world’s Concepción N Mar del Plata C
longest mountain range. They Valdivia CRoíloorNaedgoro Bahía Blanca
extend through seven countries. I
Golfo de
O Lake Titicaca (between Bolivia Penas E T
and Peru) lies 12,500 ft (3,812 m) N
above sea level, making it the CN
world’s highest navigable lake. A A

G L E

ia T
A
R O

on Gulf of
San Jorge
A

ag

t

a MACHU PICCHU The Inca people built
this city in the Andes over 500 years ago. It is
P Bahía Falkland STANLEY known as the “Lost City of the Incas” because
Grande Islands it was forgotten for centuries, until Hiram
Bingham rediscovered it in 1911.
Punta Arenas Tierra
del Fuego 135

Cape Horn

Life in South America

Dramatic landscapes, including the Andes MANED WOLF
mountains, lively cities, music, dancing, exuberant This long-legged wolf
carnivals, and passionate soccer crowds are just lives in Uruguay.
some of the things to see in South America.
CONTINENTS OF
THE WORLD LANDSCAPE WILDLIFE
South America contains almost This continent is home to a huge
every kind of landscape, including variety of animals: tropical parrots
rain forest, grassland, desert, and and snakes in the rain forest, bears
mountain. and condors in the Andes, and
anteaters and cavies on the
Pampas grasslands.

LLAMA People who live in the TAKE A PICTURE FAMOUS SOUTH AMERICANS
Andes keep llamas for their wool and
use them to carry heavy loads. Atahtfet3ew,r2ao1nr2ldAf’tsm(9he7irg9ihcamens)t,pAwilnoagtt,eeJrlfiFamallml.lsIytiAnwnVagseennle,azimnuee1ld9a3i3s. O Eva Peron (1919–1952), often known
as Evita, was married to the Argentinian
president, Juan Perón. She helped many
poor people and campaigned for better
conditions for workers.
O Pele (born 1940) Brazilian former
soccer player, considered by many to be
the greatest soccer player of all time.
O Gabriel Garcia Marquez (born 1927)
Colombian novelist who was awarded the
Nobel Prize for literature in 1982.
O Simón Bolívar (1783-1830), born in
Venezuela, was a key leader in the
successful struggle for independence of
much of South America, including Peru,
Venezuela, Colombia, Ecuador, and Bolivia.

FAVELA Rio is not all beaches and

FOOD PANAMA HAT LIFE IN SOUTH AMERICA CONTINENTS OF
Meat forms an important part Despite the name, these THE WOLRD
of the South American diet. brimmed straw hats do not FARMING
One traditional dish in Paraguay, actually come from Panama— Almost a third of all the world’s
Uruguay, and Argentina is a they are made in Ecuador. coffee is grown in Brazil. Other
barbecue of sausages, steaks, and important South American crops
chicken, called asado. A tea called include bananas, cocoa, and
“mate” is popular in Southern
Brazil and is drunk from a gourd sugarcane. Chile
through a silver straw. and Argentina are
important wine

producers.

TOURISM MUSIC
Many people visit
Rio to see the The samba, tango, and bossa nova
carnival or to are just some of the famous dances
relax on the that come from South America.
famous beaches. This couple is dancing the tango, a
Other popular dramatic dance that originated in the
tourist slums of Buenos Aires in Argentina.
Tango music is played on a type of
attractions include Iguacu Falls accordion called a bandoneon,
and the ancient Inca city of accompanied by a piano and violin.
Machu Picchu in Peru.

INDUSTRY SOCCER
Venezuela has some of Soccer is a passion for people in
the world’s largest oil many South American countries—
and gas reserves and the from children playing soccer in the
petroleum industry streets up to fanatical support for
accounts for 80 percent the big teams. Brazilian soccer is
of its exports. In Brazil, famous for its fast-flowing and
many cars run on attacking style of play. The national
ethanol, which is a fuel team has won the World Cup
made from sugar cane. a record five times.

DID YOU KNOW? FASCINATING FACTS 5Argentina was
named by the first
1Chile is the longest 3There are nearly Spanish settlers, who
and thinnest country 137 million Roman went there in search
in the world. It is Catholics in Brazil—more of silver and gold.
2,610 miles (4,200 km) than in any other country The name comes from
in the world. the Latin word for
long but only silver, argentum.
112 miles 2The city of Ushuaia is the 4La Paz in Bolivia is the
(180 km) southernmost city in the world’s highest capital
at its world. It is situated on the city at 11,942 ft (3,640 m)
widest island of Tierra del Fuego at above sea level.
the southern tip of Argentina.
point.

137

CONTINENTS OF Africa Madeira
THE WORLD
Africa is often called the “birthplace of humankind.” (to Portugal)
That’s because human beings originated from Africa
several million years ago, although humans as we Canary Islands
would recognize them only emerged about 200,000 years ago.
(to Spain)

LAÂYOUNE
WESTERN
SAHARA

(disputed)

Today, about 1 in 8 of the world’s population live in Africa. Nouâdhibou

MAURITANIA

CAPE VERDE NOUAKCHOTT
Seneg
AFRICAN FACTS How many people? A
The population of Africa is thought to be PRAIA DAKAR SENEGAL
O Covers approximately 20 percent of Earth’s around 14 percent of the total world al
land area population. Nigeria is the most populated BANJUL GAMBIA
O Number of countries 53 +dependencies African country.
O Biggest country Republic of Sudan BISSAU
O Smallest country The Seychelles
O Languages 1,000s GUINEA- GUINE
O Population of continent Estimated at BISSAU
778 million
O Largest African city Egypt’s capital, Cairo CONAKRY SIERRA

FREETOWN LEONE
LIB
E RI
N MONROVIA
A

O Highest point Kilimanjaro in Tanzania at

19,341 ft (5,895 m)

O Longest river Nile, running through Population density 0 km 1000
Uganda, Sudan, and Egypt into the People per km² (0.39 miles²) 0 miles 1000
Mediterranean Sea, at 4,145 miles (6,671 km)
O Biggest lake Lake Victoria, bordering below 50
Tanzania, Uganda, Kenya. The lake contains 50-90
more than 3,000 islands, many inhabited. 100-149
150-199

200-299

above 300

THE SAHARA

Ceuta (to Spain) Melilla ALGIERS EUROPE

Tanger (to Spain) TUNIS MaltaM e d i t e r r a n e a n S e a

Constantine TUNISIA The Red Sea divides
RABAT n s Africa from Asia. At the
O n t a i northernmost end, the
C s o u Suez Canal allows ships
Casablanca C a M to travel between the
tl Red Sea and the
O RO TRIPOLI Gulf of Nile Delta Said Mediterranean.
A Sirte Benghazi Alexandria Port

M QDaetptarerassiWon estCeArnIRO Suez Canal
Desert Sinai
ALGERIA
LIBYA EaNsitlRee rendDSeeseart

EGYPT CONTINENTS OF
THE WOLRD
Ahaggar Libyan Aswân The easternmost part of the
Lake Nasser ASIA
Desert
S a h a r aë Tibesti continent is known as the
Tënër Nubian “Horn of Africa,”
Desert because it is shaped like

MALI NIGER an animal’s horn.
ERITREA
iger
Sahel KHARTOUM ASMERA
BENIN
BURKINA NIAMEYNiger T O G O Zinder CHAD El Obeid Blue Nile DJIBOUTI DJIBOUTIGuAldf of Raas
BAMAKO FASO Lake Chad en Xaafuun
GHANA NDJAMENA SUDAN
OUAGADOUGOU White Nile SOMALILAND
Black Volta
NIGERIA MEthiopian(not internationally
ALIA
CÔTE ABUJA AMEROON Moundou Massif ADDIS ABABA recognized) Horn
D'IVOIRE des Bongo Hargeysa of Africa
N AHdaigmhalawnads C
(IVORY COAST) Lagos CENTRAL Sudd Highlands
YAMOUSSOUKRO MALABO
AFRICAN REPUBLIC ETHIOPIA
LOMÉ PORTO-NOVO Shebeli
Abidjan ACCRA BANGUI Ubangi Lake Turkana

YAOUNDÉ Congo (Lake Rudolf ) SO

SAO TOME EQUATORIAL UGANDA KENYA MOGADISHU
& PRINCIPE GUINEA

SÃO TOMÉ LIBREVILLE Kisangani KAMPALA
Lake
CONGO Basin Kismaayo

GABON Victoria NAIROBI
A N G O L AThe Great Rift Valley D E M . RE P. KIGALI RWANDA
CONGO I N D I A NKilimanjaro
This huge valley cuts right BUJUMBURA
through eastern Africa, from Ilebo 19,340ft (5895m)
Ethiopia to Mozambique. It BRAZZAVILLE Great Rift
contains a chain of vast lakes, Cabinda Congo Kasai BURUNDI Masai Mombasa
including Lakes Tanganyika, (to Angola) Matadi LualabaKINSHASA
Victoria and Nyasa—some of Steppe Pemba O C E A N
the deepest lakes in the world. Cuango Lake DODOMA
Kalemie Zanzibar
Kananga Tanganyika SEYCHELLE S

TAN ZANIA Dar es Salaam

LUANDA Cuanza V a lley Lake Rukwa Aldabra
Group
Lake Mweru MALAWI
Lubumbashi Ruvuma COMOROS

Bié Kitwe Lake Nyasa MORONI
Huambo Plateau LILONGWE
FAMOUS PLACES Zambezi ZAMBIA Mayotte
Cuando Nacala (to France)
MOZAMB
Cuba IQUE
O Hottest place: the highest Lubango LUSAKA Zambezi Mozambique Channel
temperature ever recorded was Victoria Falls
136°F (57.8°C) at Al ‘Aziziyah in Cunene Etosha ngo MADAGASCAR
Libya in 1922. Pan HARARE

NAMIBIA Okavango ZIMBABWE ANTANANARIVO

Delta Beira

O The Ngorongoro Crater in Kenya Namib WINDHOEK BOTSWANA Bulawayo
is a circular valley, enclosed by
mountain walls. It is the remains of A Kalahari L Toliara
an ancient volcano. The crater is
home to a huge variety of animals. No ssob GABORONE TSHWANE/ impopo Madagascar is the world’s
PRETORIA fourth-largest island. It is
O The Okavango River does not flow T Desert Desert home to many unique
into the sea. Instead, it ends in a animals, such as lemurs and
large inland swamp, known as the L Johannesburg MAPUTO fossas, which are not found
Okavango Delta, in Botswana. O anywhere else in the world.

A MBABANE
C

N Orange River S O U T H SWAZILAND
E MASERU

T
A

IC BLOEMFONTEIN LESOTHO Durban
N ADrakensberg
AFRIC

Great Karoo

CAPE TOWN East London

Cape of Port Elizabeth

Good Hope 139

CONTINENTS OF Life in Africa FAMOUS AFRICANS
THE WORLD
Home to the world’s longest river and its biggest O Nelson Mandela (born 1918) Former
desert, to one of the oldest tourist attractions, and political prisoner who became South
to some of the most dramatic wildlife on the Africa’s first fully democratically elected
planet, Africa is a fascinating continent. president in 1994.
O Kofi Annan (born 1938) Secretary
LANDSCAPE General of the United Nations (1997–2007).
Africa contains a huge variety of Winner of the Nobel Peace Prize in 2001.
landscapes, from snow-capped O Desmond Tutu (born 1931) Former
mountains to baking deserts. archbishop of Cape Town in South Africa,
Northern Africa is mostly desert, and an anti-apartheid campaigner.
while farther south are grassy O Haile Gebreselassie (born 1973)
plains, called savannas, and Ethiopian long-distance runner who has
dense rain forest. broken numerous world records.

TAKE A PICTURE Traditional African villages
Most Africans live in the countryside,
IKtAsiflirpmiecaaan’ksjiahsriogahliwnesaTtyasmnzcoaounvnieatra,eiandtii1sn9Ms,n3oo4uw0n.ftt (5,895 m). often in small villages. Many homes,
like these in a Shona village, are made
from mud. People live very simply,
with no access to electricity.

LaaknthedeVthwiceotosrlreTdiacA.oiKnsdEthlaeArlgaPersgIteCfsTrteUlsahRkweEainteAr flraikcea in NAIROBI Only around MANY Africans
one out of every five Africans make their living
lives in a big city like from farming or
Nairobi, the capital herding. This
of Kenya. Samburu man in
Kenya is herding
his goats.

FARMING WILDLIFE LIFE IN AFRICA CONTINENTS OF
Africa is famous for its zebras, THE WOLRD
About 60 percent of African workers giraffes, lions, and other large Diamonds About half of all
are subsistence farmers, farming their animals. But it is also home to diamonds come from southern
own land and growing crops such as many other creatures, from the Africa, especially South Africa
barley, cassava, corn, sorghum, and 500 different species of fish that
sweet potatoes to feed their families. live in Lake Malawi to colonies and Botswana. The largest
Many also produce “cash crops,” such of penguins in South Africa. diamond ever found, the
as coffee, which are sold to make Cullinan, was mined in
money. Larger farms usually grow TOURISM
cotton, cocoa, or rubber as cash crops. South Africa in 1905.

Some places in Africa use wind pumps to INDUSTRY MUSIC
pump water from the ground, because many The main African industries are Most African music features
areas are not connected to a national mining for gold, diamonds, and complex rhythms, created
electricity supply. copper, as well as oil production. through patterns of drumbeats.
The biggest oil producers are African musicians also play flutes,
FOOD Nigeria and Libya. xylophones, and stringed
The main ingredients of most instruments.
African dishes are the staple crops TOURISM
grown on local farms—corn, MBIRA This
cassava, yams, rice, beans—along Each year, about 3 million people African instrument is
with various green vegetables. visit the ancient pyramids at Giza in made of metal keys
One popular dish eaten across Egypt, making them Africa’s number set on a wooden
West Africa is Jollof rice. It is one tourist attraction. Many people soundboard. The
made from rice with tomatoes, also travel to Africa to see the musician plucks the
onions, spices, and chili, all continent’s spectacular wildlife. keys with his fingers.
cooked in one pot, and is often
served with cooked meat or fish.

DID YOU KNOW? FASCINATING FACTS 5The world’s five fastest
land animals are the
1One of the toughest 2Malaria is a huge 3Many African children 4At 4,184 miles cheetah, pronghorn
races on Earth is the killer in Africa. Many don’t get the chance (6,695 km), the Nile is antelope, wildebeest, lion,
Marathon des Sables people die as a result of to go to school. In Mali in the world’s longest river. and Thomson’s gazelle.
(Marathon of the mosquito bites, which West Africa, for example, It flows north through Four are found in Africa.
Sands), which takes pass on this disease. only one out of every 10 African countries. The pronghorn is native to
place each year in three children goes to North America.
Morocco. Entrants elementary school.
run 156 miles 141
(254 km) across the
desert in six days.

Europe

Unlike many of the other continents,
Europe is not a separate landmass—it is
joined to Asia. Europe’s eastern boundary
is formed by the Ural Mountains and the Caspian Sea.
Russia falls into both Europe and Asia.
CONTINENTS OF 2
THE WORLD
0 km 500
PORTUGAL
EUROPEAN FACTS How many people? 0 miles 500
The 731 million Europeans make up about
■ Covers approximately 7 percent of Earth’s 11 percent of the total world population.
land area Russia has the largest population, while the most
■ Number of countries More than 50 densely populated country is the Netherlands.
■ Biggest country Russia (note that part of
Russia also lies in Asia) Population density u ST. BASIL’S CATHEDRAL
■ Smallest country Vatican City People per km² (0.39 miles²) This beautiful cathedral, with its
■ Languages More than 50 onion-shaped domes, stands in
■ Population of continent Estimated at below 50 Red Square in Moscow, Russia.
731 million 50-90
■ Largest European city Moscow 100-149
■ Highest point Mount Elbrus in Russia at 150-199
18,510 ft (5,642 m) high 200-299
■ Longest river the Volga in Russia is above 300
2,292 miles (3,688 km) long
■ Biggest lake Lake Ladoga in Russia

THE ALPS d ALPS Mont Blanc is the
Extending through seven countries, the Alps highest peak in the Alps at
are the largest mountain system in Europe. 15,774 ft (4,808 m).
They are a popular vacation destination
in both summer and winter for skiing, A Coruna
mountaineering, and walking.
Porto Duero
RESCUE DOG Tagus Valladolid
LISBON
Specially trained German SP
shepherd dogs are used in Gibraltar
the Alps to find missing (to UK) Seville
people. They can smell a Málaga
person buried under snow.

FAMOUS PLACES

O Surtsey, a small island off Iceland, Svalbard Novaya
was formed by the eruption of an Zemlya
underwater volcano. It rose above (to Norway)
sea level in 1963–68, making it one
of the world’s youngest islands.

Denmark Strait O The Low Countries—Belgium and The northeastern part of Europe, Kara CONTINENTS OF
the Netherlands—are so low that known as Scandinavia, includes Sea THE WOLRD
REYKJAVÍK some of the land actually lies below the countries of Norway, Sweden,
sea level and has to be protected by Denmark, and Finland. Ural
ICELAND huge dikes.
Barents
The island of Iceland is extremely Sea
volcanically active. It is home to
several volcanoes and many geysers. Murmansk
N
Norwegian O R U S S I A NWhite
R Sea
Faeroe Islands Arkhangel’sk
WW
(to Denmark) Sea E M
DA
Northern Dvina
Gulf of Bothnia E N Y
AT L A N T I C Trondheim n S
u A
OCEAN Shetland FINLAND Lake o
Islands

Outer Tampere Onega FEDERATION
Hebrides HELSINKI
Bergen Lake
Ladoga
t IA

OSLO

SCOTLAND Stavanger Åland St Petersburg s
STOCKHOLM in
NORTHERN Glasgow TALLINN Ufa a
Vänern

Vättern ESTONIA Kazan’
IRELAND N o r t h Gothenburg S
Edinburgh
Belfast c Nizhniy Novgorod
S e a Aalborg Sea MOSCOW
IRELAND Isle Gotland RIGA

of Man U N I T E D DENMARK LATVIA Samara Orenburg
DUBLIN (to UK) Manchester COPENHAGEN Balti LITHUANIA

WALES KINGDOM Vitsyebsk

Birmingham Kaliningrad RUSS. FED. VILNIUS

Cardiff E N G L A N D NETHERLANDS Hamburg Gdansk (Kaliningrad) Saratov

AMSTERDAM Elbe MINSK
LONDON Oder

Channel English Channel RhineTHE HAGUE BERLIN PoznaVnistula WARSAW BELARUS Voronezh
M
Islands Lille BELGIU
eine
(to UK) S BRUSSELS GERMANY P O L A N D
le Havre
LUXEMBOURG
Frankfurt Wroclaw Volgograd Volga
PARIS KIEV Kharkiv
LUXEMBOURG am Main PRAGUE
Krakow
Loire
Clermont-Ferrand
Nantes CZECH L’viv

U K R A I N EBay of Strasbourg REPUBLIC Astrakhan’
Rostov-na-Donu
F R A N C EBiscay

Bordeaux
Caspian Se
er
Munich SLOVAKIA Dniest Dnipropetrovs’k Donets’k
SWITZERLAND BRATISLAVA
VIENNA

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Mont Blanc GARY CHISINAU D

R NIA
Rhône Sea of
niep Azov
Bilbao Lyon lps HUN
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Eb Pyre Toulouse Milan VLeJnUiBceLJANASLOVENIA Odesa Groznyy a
Zaragoza Marseille Po
Ynee O M A Simferopol’ Caucasus
A
Ts CROATIA BELGRADE Elbrus 18,510ft (5642m)
I BOSNIA
ANDORRA ANDORRA MONACO a
MADRID Ty r r hLA VELLACorsica SAN & HERZEGOVINA S E R B I A BUCHAREST Black S e
MARINO SARAJEVO
ro Danube
A I N Barcelona
KOSOVO SOFIA
VATICAN MONTENEGRO (disputed)
A F R I C AValencia PODGORICA PRISTINA B U L G A R I A
Mallorca Menorca CITY
Ibiza ROME L
Palma Islands Sardinia SKOPJE
Cagliari a T
Balearic e Naples ly TIRANA MACEDONIA Istanbul The Mediterranean Sea
erra an Se Europe is divided from Africa
n i a ALBANIA Salonica u by the Mediterranean, a sea
that is almost completely
Medit Lárisa Aegean r surrounded by land. The
key only way in and out to the
Palermo GREECE Sea Atlantic Ocean is through
the Strait of Gibraltar, which
Sici Ionian ATHENS ASIA is just 9 miles (14 km) wide.

Mount Etna, on the island ne Sea
of Sicily, is the largest
MALTA n Sea

active volcano in Europe. VALLETTA Irákleio

Etna erupts almost Crete

continuously, making it Istanbul, the largest city in Turkey, is

one of the world’s most the only city to span two continents.

active volcanoes. Part is in Europe, and part in Asia.

143

Life in Europe FAMOUS EUROPEANS

CONTINENTS OF Europe is only slightly bigger than the United ■ Mother Teresa (1910–1997) Albanian
THE WORLD States, but has more than twice the US Roman Catholic nun who was famous for
population. It is also crowded with countries— her humanitarian work.
around 50 are crammed into the tiny continent. ■ Albert Einstein (1879–1955) Nobel-
Prize-winning German physicist, and one
EUROPEAN UNION of the most famous scientists of all time.
The European Union (EU) is a ■ Pablo Picasso (1881–1973) Spanish
political and economic union of painter and sculptor, who was the most
27 countries that operate as a influential artist of the 20th century.
single market. This means that ■ Louis Braille (1809–1852) French
people, goods, and money can inventor of Braille, a system used by blind
move freely between the various people to read.
countries. Sixteen of the member ■ Marie Curie (1867–1934) Polish
states share a common currency, scientist who researched radioactivity and
the euro. The EU has its own won two Nobel Prizes for her work.
parliament, court of justice, and
central bank. TAKE A PICTURE

CbLheoaairmuetbiVfouarlldlceihysâiotnenaFeruaoxnf (cmceao.srteletsh)ainn 300
the

TAKE A PICTURE
SbSautlioilstnbeinuhrepynrPeglheaiisinstoianriccBitrricimtlaeeinos.,f
The circle of stars on the EU flag d ROME’S mix of old and new standing stones,
represent unity among the members. buildings shows how the city has that stands on
evolved over centuries.

LIFE IN EUROPE

FOOD WEALTH CROWDED CONTINENT

Pasta, pizza, croissants, moussaka, All the Europe is densely populated.
goulash, and profiteroles are just some
of the foods that originated in Europe European Overall, there are about 181 people
and are now popular worldwide.
countries have per square mile (70 per square

high standards kilometer), compared to just

of living, and 59 people per square mile

even poorer (23 per square kilometer) in North CONTINENTS OF
THE WOLRD
Europeans are well off compared America. About three-quarters of its

Cheese from France to people in the developing population live in towns and cities.

Sausages world. According to World Bank London,
from Germany statistics, the three richest UK

countries in the world are

Luxembourg, Norway, and

Tapas from Spain Switzerland—all in Europe.

Pasta from Italy MUSIC

SPORTS Europe is the
Soccer, tennis, cricket,
golf, and rugby are played birthplace of
around the world, but were
all invented in Europe. Rugby, classical music,
for example, was a variant of
soccer invented at a school opera, and the
in the UK in the early modern orchestra. TOURISM
19th century. These styles of France is the most
visited country in the
music were
world, with almost
performed in
82 million visitors in
concert halls or
opera houses, many 2007. Tourists travel
to Europe to see the
u MOZART of them extremely many historic
(1756-1791) grand buildings, with

audiences paying to buildings and cities,
and to relax on the
attend. Europe’s famous
Mediterranean
composers include Mozart,
Haydn, Bach, Beethoven, Verdi, beaches.

and Puccini.

Eiffel Tower, Paris, France

DID YOU KNOW? FASCINATING FACTS 5The three smallest
states in Europe are:
1The Danube River 2Europe’s 3Europe is named after 4Swiss people eat Monaco (30,000
flows through 10 population Europa, a character in more chocolate residents), San Marino
European countries and is shrinking. Greek mythology. She was a than any other nation. (25,000 residents), and
four European capital The average princess who was abducted Each of them munches Vatican City
cities (Vienna, number of births per woman by the god Zeus, who had through an average of (900 residents).
Bratislava, Budapest, is just 1.52. Experts estimate disguised 251⁄2 lb (11.6 kg) of Vatican City is just
and Belgrade). that by 2050 Europeans will himself chocolate in a year. 0.17 miles²
make up just 7 percent of as a (0.44 km²).
the world’s population white
(currently 11 percent). bull.

CONTINENTS OF Asia FAMOUS PLACES
THE WORLD
Asia is the biggest continent, O Mount Pinatubo is an active
covering about a third of Earth’s volcano in the Philippines. It
land area. It has the biggest exploded in 1991 in one of the
population, and it contains the world’s biggest biggest eruptions ever recorded.
country, highest mountain, and largest lake.
O The Dead Sea is actually an
extremely salty lake on the border of
Israel and Jordan. It is the lowest
place on Earth, at 1,312 ft (400 m)
below sea level.

O K2 is the second-highest mountain
on Earth, after Mount Everest. It is
located in Pakistan.

ASIAN FACTS How many people? Ural’sk

More than 4 billion people live in Asia—

O Covers 30 percent of Earth’s that’s about two out of every three people

land area in the world. China has the biggest Black Caspian
O Number of countries around 48 population, with 1.3 billion people.
O Biggest country Russia (although part of Sea GEORGIA Sea Aktau
Russia also lies in Europe) Population density
O Smallest country the Maldive Islands (people per km² Istanbul T’BILISI AZERBAIJAN
O Languages Unknown, but more than 200 (0.39 miles²)
O Population of continent Over 4 billion (over ANKARA ARMENIA
60 percent of the world’s population) below 50
O Largest Asian city Tokyo, Japan 50-90 TURKEY YEREVAN BAKU
O Highest point Mount Everest, on the border 100-149
of Nepal and China, at 29,028 ft (8,848 m) 150-199 CYPRUS Mosul TEHRAN
O Longest river the Yangtze River (Chang 200-299 NICOSIA
Jiang) in China is 3,915 miles (6,300 km) long above 300 SYRIA
O Biggest lake the Caspian Sea is the
world’s largest lake BEIRUT DAMASCUS Qom

LEBANON BAGHDAD

ISRAEL AMMAN IRAQ IRAN
JERUSALEM JORDAN
KUWAIT Shiraz

KUWAIT The
SAUDI Gulf

ARABIA BAHRAIN QATAR

MANAMA

R RIYADH DOHA ABU

A

e Jedda A ra b i a n DHABI

F UAE

d Peninsula OMAN

R

THE GANGES I
The Ganges is the longest river in the Indian
Subcontinent and a sacred river for Hindus. S

C

ea SANA Y E M E N

A

Each year, thousands of pilgrims visit BATHING Aden of Aden
Varanasi and other holy cities along its banks. in the Ganges is said
to wash away sins. Gulf Socotra

(to Yemen)

THE DELTA

This satellite picture
shows the Ganges delta
in Bangladesh. This area
is very low lying and
often floods.

The Ural Mountains in ARCTIC O C E A N The northern and central
Russia form the
boundary between Laptev East part of Russia is known
Sea Siberian as Siberia. This region is
Asia and Europe. bitterly cold
Sea in the winter.
Central

Noril’sk

s Siberian lyma
Magadan
Anabar

Plateau
E Lena Ko olyma Range
Vi
in K
Yenisey
P Ob’

a

O RUSSIAN FEDERATION a Aldan CONTINENTS OF
THE WOLRD
t Yakutsk
Kamchatka
R i Amur
Sakhalin
n

EU We s t Si b er

Mou Irtysh Siberian Angara tim
Plain
Ural Yekaterinburg Sea of
Okhotsk
Omsk Novosibirsk Lake
Baikal

Irkutsk

ASTANA s

Karaganda d

KAZAKHSTAN Lake A ltai M ULAN BATOR Khabarovsk lan
Balkhash
Aral Godavari Urumqi LIA C

M O NG O b iI n n e r Mo n g Harbin le Is
G o
nta ins Jilin FI
N
Sea Kyzylorda o NORTH Kuri
u KOREA OPCAEC IA
TUURKZBEKIS iheann a Hokkaido
Almaty T o l i Vladivostok
BISHKEK S
TASHKENT Sea of Sapporo

TAMNENISTAN KYRGYZSTAN Japan

DUSHANBE Takla Makan low River BEIJING Dalian (East Sea) Honshu

C H I N AMAMSUaGSsAChBAhKAaPTAaFdTrAGaHcKAhAihIKNSmaInSaTddTAaTaAhhbNNaaaKLrrdAaDhBToUerBsALIeeShDrJtLoeAIpDNlhKaMEEilLIWASHVBaITArKHAaDKnuNiNAanmTsE(aiHlPdabbucMAmyyllDainCLInaAinKmhiBsdeiyNeontGiMeasdaAalDr)ek,aersDaUNdnottgHaouG(MeBPA8srnfL8oKlauA5tAhanT0amDtTmtiaBHiEEen)pvIbSHuMaesSrHteUaerPu(saltMtTHwB2AUeY9eUNn,A0R3N5MMft AACRh)enYgeKdl uuLnamnzinhCgohuoXGni’guaqinyinagngGuaQnWignFzuguhPzdhohYaaguoOtonzuNe YNGeaSYlnAelSjSoaNKiCEnhwTaTEGOgShAaoAUaenihIPPasLngsIutEhiWasuIaaninKSAHgirOONosURhiETmAaHYan JAPAN

TOKYO

Osaka

N

Mekong Ryukyu Islands

Indus 0 km 1000
0 miles
1000

I N D I AAr a b i a n Mumbai (Calcutta) NAY PYI TAW LAOS HANOI Hong Kong
(Xianggang)
S e a (Bombay) Bay VIENTIANE
Nagpur VIE Hainan Philippine
Hyderabad Dao Sea
o f Rangoon TNAM Luzon

Mekong
Bangalore Bengal THAILAND PHILIPPINES

Chennai Andaman MANILA Legazpi City
BANGKOK
(Madras) Islands
CAMBODIA S o u t h
(to India)
Cochin PHNOM PENH China

INDIAN Nicobar Islands Ho Chi Sea Cebu
Minh City Davao
(to India)
BANDAR SERI
OCEAN COLOMBO BEGAWAN Mindanao

SRI LANKA Medan M A L A Y S I A BRUNEI

MALE

MALDIVES KUALA LUMPUR

PUTRAJAYA Manado

SINGAPORE SINGAPORE Balikpapan

Borneo Celebes Ambon

Palembang
Sumatra Jayapura

INDONESIA
Makassar New Guinea
JAKARTA Semarang
Java Flores Sea

Malang DILI

EAST TIMOR
Timor
DUBAI is the biggest city in the A belt of thousands of islands stretches from
United Arab Emirates (UAE). Most of Timor AUSTRALASIA
it has been built in the last 40 years. southeast Asia to Australia. There are more
Sea & OCEANIA
than 13,500 islands in Indonesia alone.

147

CONTINENTS OF Life in Asia FAMOUS ASIANS
THE WORLD
Asia contains just about everything—great wealth O Benazir Bhutto (1953–2007) Pakistani
and extreme poverty, modern ways and ancient politician. Bhutto was elected prime
traditions, empty deserts and overcrowded cities, minister twice, becoming the first woman
small-scale farming and high-tech industry. elected to lead a Muslim state, but she was
assassinated in 2007.
O Yuri Gagarin (1934–68) Russian
astronaut. He was the first person to travel
into space and to orbit the Earth.
O Tenzing Norgay (1914–86) Nepalese
mountaineer who in 1953 became one of
the first two men to reach the summit of
Mount Everest.
O Mahatma Gandhi (1869–1948) Indian
political and spiritual leader. He helped free
India from British control.

TOURISM TAKE A PICTURE
Asia’s most-visited tourist attractions
are the Great Wall of China and the TCghhreainsdeaualwilmleyerewstfooornrnmeaepwdinabnyyaacrllaleitsnhwneeasatuerrrYr,oawunhngidscihhnoghuaroisnck.
Taj Mahal in India. There are more
modern attractions in Dubai, famous MUMBAI is the biggest city TAKE A PICTURE
for its shopping and nightlife, and in India. It is the country’s
home to the world’s tallest hotel. business center and home to the aTMnhdeouiJtnaotpfFtauenjnei siasepapceovanorslscidainenroJiantpeaaasnraeTcsorekeydpoamiinnotuJinnagtpasai.nn.
Bollywood movie industry.

OIL MUSIC AND

About 80 percent DANCE

of the world’s easily This girl is

accessible oil is in performing a

the Middle East, classical Indian dance.

and money from These are often inspired

oil has made some MANUFACTURING by traditional Hindu CONTINENTS OF
of the countries THE WOLRD
in this region From clothes to cars, lots of the stories and poems.
goods sold in Western countries The dancer’s moves
extremely rich. are made in Asia. Many companies and hand gestures

have factories in Asia because it is tell the story.

cheaper to employ workers there FOOD
than in the West. Rice is the staple (main) food for
many people in Asia. It is served
ANCIENT AND MODERN

There are huge differences in people’s with many Chinese, Thai, and
lifestyles around the continent. Many Indian dishes, such as curry or
Asians live in big modern cities stir-fried foods.
such as Tokyo and Beijing. But

in other areas, people such as

the Bedouin are living much

as their ancestors did hundreds In parts of Mongolia, In Japan, many people live
of years ago. Many Bedouin nomadic farmers live in in apartment buildings.
still live in tents and move traditional felt tents,
from place to place. called yurts.

WILDLIFE TECHNOLOGY FARMING
Tigers are only found in eastern Japan is a world leader in About half of all Asians make their
and southern Asia. The tiger is manufacturing televisions, music living from farming, and rice is the
now an endangered animal, players, game consoles, cameras, continent’s biggest crop. It has to
because large areas of its habitat and other electronics. India is be grown in wet conditions, often
one of the world’s in a flooded paddy field.
have been largest exporters
destroyed of software and
and it is often other computer
hunted for services.
its skin.

DID YOU KNOW? FASCINATING FACTS 5The Indian railroad
system is the world’s
1 2The Himalayas contain Asia was the birthplace 4Japan is home to largest employer, with
14 peaks that are overof all the world’s major 10 percent of all the more than 1.6 million
active volcanoes in the members of staff.
26,000 ft (8,000 m) high— religions, including Judaism, world. It has about 40
active volcanoes, while 149
there are no other Christianity, another 148 are dormant.

mountains this high Islam, Hinduism,

elsewhere and Buddhism. 3The world’s deepest lake
is Lake Baikal in Russia, at
in the world. 5,371 ft (1,637 m). It contains
more water than the five
North American Great Lakes.