Why We Should Love Clouds
Have you ever looked up at the sky and wondered where clouds come from? Sure, they can form a huge range of different shapes and sizes, but why are they here? Don’t they just block the sunlight on a summer’s day and ruin our holidays with constant showers? The answer is more surprising than you might expect!
Real Life Minecraft – Cactus
Part of our series on the features in Minecraft. If you are a Minecraft player, then you know that Cactus blocks grow naturally in deserts and mesas. The blocks can be harvested, but will destroy any items that come in contact with them. But what are REAL cacti like (and why do we sometimes say “cactus” and other times say “cacti”? Sarah takes a closer look.
Cool Bedroom Ideas for Kids
We’ve scoured the internet to find some fab rooms – not boys’ rooms and girls’ rooms, just really cool bedrooms ideas for kids.
Maybe you’ve grown out of your princess bedroom, or have gotten tired of your pirate room. Perhaps you didn’t have a real theme to begin with. We’ve gone for bedrooms that can be done without spending a ton of money – focusing quick fixes of a lick of paint and some new bed covers.
Stripes Galore!
We love this stripy bedroom – you can learn how they did the stripes here
Room Makeover by Melissa Mondragon
Pride of Place – The World of the Lion
Lions are felines, which means that they are members of the same wider family as cats. Indeed, they are frequently referred to as “large cats” or something similar.
They live on plains and savanna in Africa and India, where the sun beats down on the grassland so that it fades, withers and turns yellow – just the colour of a lion, which helps to camouflage it, so that it can blend in with its surroundings and stay hidden.
The Hunter
Lions are predators, which means they hunt and kill other animals for their meat. The hunting is usually the task of the lioness, while the male lion provides protection from other lions.
They will generally hunt zebras, antelopes, impala, and even giraffes, hippos and young elephants. The lioness may need to attack quickly, before the prey can run away, and the lion can reach amazing speeds of up to 56 km/h (around 30 mph).
The Pride
Lions generally live in family groups known as prides. This may be made up of between 7 and 10 animals.
A lioness will normally give birth to a litter of three cubs, although occasionally there may be as many as six. These are blind at birth, and remain so for the first two weeks of life, just like kittens!
Lifespan and Population
When a lion lives in the wild, forced to compete for food, and to fight with other lions, and survive in times when prey may be scarce, it has a life expectancy of around 15 years.
However, lions in captivity, that do not have to fight for their territory and have a ready food supply and medical attention may live up to 30 years – double their wild cousins!
The lion population is in decline, which means that there are fewer and fewer. In Africa, there are an estimated 39,000 lions, whereas in Asia the number stands at just 400.