DK - WOW! The Visual Encyclopedia of Everything

Nature

After a tree dies, all the carbon

dioxide it absorbed when alive

is eventually released back into

the atmosphere. The same

amount of carbon dioxide

is released whether the

tree burns or rots.

The largest water

plant is the Amazonian

giant lily. Its leaves

are so big that a

child could sit on

it without sinking.

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The seeds of the coco de mer are the largest of

any plant. They can weigh up to 20 kg (45 lb).

One type of lungfish can breathe underwater using

gills and in the air using lungs.

The smallest mammal by weight, the Etruscan

shrew, weighs just 1.8 g (0.06 oz) – lighter than

a penny coin.

Lichen are only a few centimetres tall, but they

live for a very long time in the coldest places on

Earth. Some lichens in Antarctica are more than

4,000

years

old.

50 m (150 ft) long.

Many desert plants have very long roots

to find water deep underground. The tropical

American mesquite tree’s roots grow up to

Bamboo is the tallest grass. It can grow up to

50

m

(150 ft) tall.

Ants never sleep.

The smallest

flowering plant

is the duckweed

Wolffia, which is just

0.6 mm long.

Magnolias are amongst the most

ancient flowering plants. Fossils of

magnolias have been found that are

20 million years old.

Tiny nanoplankton, less than

20 thousandths of a millimetre

in diameter, are the most

plentiful organisms in

Earth’s oceans.

A typical bed is home to about 2 million dust mites.

Sharks have a very

good sense of smell.

They can detect

one part of blood

in 100 million parts

of water.

1 m (3 ft) long.

A male walrus’s tusks can grow up to

Prairie dogs live in huge burrows called

towns. One town in Texas was home to

400,000,000

individuals.

Fungi live by feeding on dead organisms or

their waste. Pilobolus fungi feed on cow dung.

The largest fungus ever found is an Armillaria

ostoyae in Oregon, USA, which covers nearly

10 sq km (4 sq miles) of forest floor and is

estimated to be up to 8,500 years old.

The streaks of colour in cheeses such as Stilton

and Danish Blue are made by mould, which is

a microscopic fungus.

The nepenthes is the

world’s largest carnivorous

(meat-eating) plant.

It catches insects in its

huge vase-shaped pitcher

leaves. It is sometimes

called the “monkey cup”

because monkeys like to

drink out of its pitchers.

Aphids are

born pregnant

and can give

birth just

10 days after they

are born themselves.

European eels lay their eggs in the oceans.

The baby elvers then make their way to

freshwater rivers. A female eel can lay up to

4 million

The hummingbird is the only bird that can fly

straight up, down, and backwards.

A domestic rabbit can give

birth to up to 20 babies

a month.

A woodpecker

can peck up to

times per

20 second.

eggs in one year.

Octopuses have three hearts – two to

pump blood to their gills and one to

pump blood around their bodies.

The digestive

juices of a

hyena are

strong enough

to break down

bones.

A male howler monkey’s howls can

be heard up to 5 km (3 miles) away.

Freshwater and saltwater crocodiles cry.

They do it to lubricate the eyes and get

rid of excess salt in their bodies, not

because they are sad.

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