Health Facts for Kids

Here are some more interesting facts regarding health…

Food gives you energy. It helps you to grow and be healthy.

The foods you eat are made up of different components – Proteins, fats, vitamins and proteins.

Proteins help your body to grow. They help your body to make muscles, skin and other organs and blood. They also help your body to mend when it is damaged.

Carbohydrates help your stay warm.

There are many different minerals such as calcium and iron and vitamins – A, B, C, D and E.

Keep your gums and teeth clean. Remove all the harmful bits of food that get stuck in your mouth, otherwise it will cause toothache, tooth decay and bad breath.

Your body is filled with muscles. You have more than 600 of them. Some of your muscles are fastened to your bones; and these muscles help you to move.

If doctors want to know how fast your heart is beating, they take your pulse. They can feel how fast the blood is being pushed through the artery in your wrist.

Blood flows away from your heart through your arteries. Blood flows back to your heart through your veins.

Almost every human being has some, or the other phobia. What is phobia? A phobia is an intense fear of a particular animal, situation, activity, or object. The fear is so much that it can affect one’s mental and physical health.

In the health facts here is given a list of the various phobias:

• Arachnophobia : Fear of spiders
• Ophidiophobia : Fear of snakes
• Aviatophobia, or Aerophobia : Fear of flying in a plane, helicopter, etc. (Imagine if birds had this phobia!)
• Agoraphobia, Cenophobia, or Kenophobia : Fear of open spaces
• Claustrophobia, or Clithrophobia : Fear of confined, or closed spaces
• Acrophobia, Altophobia, or Hypsophobia : Fear of heights
• Pogonophobia : Fear of beards (Santa Clause will not visit those with this phobia)
• Chorophobia : Fear of dancing
• Pediophobia : Fear of dolls
• Ichthyphobia : Fear of fish
• Batrachophobia : Fear of frogs
• Chaetophobia : Fear of Hair
• Eisoptrophobia : Fear of mirrors
• Triskaidekaphobia : Fear of number 13
• Linonophobia : Fear of strings
• Odontophobia : Fear of teeth

Facts About Earthquakes

Earthquakes are movements of the Earth’s surface, often as a result of a fault, or fracture deep in the crust. They occur commonly in some parts of the world, as compared to others.

 An earthquake occurs when there is a sudden movement in the rocks underground.

 Earthquakes happen where the plates of the earth’s crust are moving in different directions. The rocks in the crust begin to bend because of the pressure, just as a stick would snap if you keep bending it.

 If the earthquake happens under the ocean, then it results in waves that travel through the water. They move in the same way that the ripples travel out from a pebble thrown into a pond. Waves made by earthquakes are called ‘tsunami’.

 Given here are some recorded facts about earthquakes:
 1. The worst ever earthquake to have occurred in the Middle East and North Africa was on 20th May 1202. This has been considered to be the worst ever known earthquake in which about 10,00,000 people lost there lives.

 2. On 2nd February 1556, 8,20,000 people were killed in the earthquake that rocked Shenshi in China.

 3. On 11th October 1737, a deadly earthquake is known to have rocked Calcutta in India, killing about 3,00,000 people.

 4. On 16th December 1920, an earthquake and landslides in Kansu Province left approximately 1,80,000 people dead.

 5. An earthquake in Tang-shan, China, on 28th July 1976, left approximately 2,42,000 people dead.

 6. An earthquake that rocked Kashmir going up to parts of Pakistan, on 11th October 2005, caused the death of approximately 1,00,000 people.

 7. An earthquake does not last more than a minute, two; however, an earthquake that rocked Alaska, on 27th March 1964, lasted for approximately 5 minutes. Thankfully, only 131 deaths happened. However, the damage done amounted to approximately 450,000,000 Dollars.

 8. On 26th December 2004, a Tsunami was created by an undersea earthquake, which caused catastrophic floods in Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, The Maldives, Malaysia, India and a few parts of Africa, leaving over 2,83,000 people dead.

Volcano Facts for kids

Volcanoes are amongst the most dreaded natural calamities, as the a hollow mountain top over flows with steaming hot lava.

 Here are some interesting volcano facts…
 1. Santorini : The eruption of the Greek island of Santorini in c1450 BC, is considered to have been one of the most powerful volcanic eruptions.

 2. Vesuvius, Italy : On 24th August AD79, Vesuvius erupted with little warning, engulfing the Roman city of Herculaneum in a mud flow. Nearby Pompeii was buried under a vast layer of pumice and volcanic ash. This preserved the city, in the bodies of many of its inhabitants, till it was excavated by archaeologists in the 19th and 20th centuries.

 3. Laki, Iceland : Iceland is one of the most volcanically active places on earth. On 11th June 1783, the largest lava flow ever recorded engulfed many villages in a river of lava measuring upto 80 km in length and 30 m in depth. It released poisonous gases that killed those who managed to escape the lava flow.

 4. Unsen, Japan : On 1st April 1793, the volcanic island of Unsen completely disappeared under the lave flow.

 5. Tambora, Indonesia : On the island of Sumbawa the eruption of tambora, between 5th and 12th April 1815, killed approximately 10,000 people instantly. Another 82,000 died over a period of time due to disease and famine.

 6. Krakatoa, Sumatra/Java : The uninhabited island of Krakatoa exploded on 27th August 1883, with what may have been the biggest bang ever heard by humans. People heard it up to a distance of approximately 4,800 km.

 7. Mont Pelee, Martinique : Mont Pelee began to erupt in April 1902, after lying dormant for centuries. The volcano finally burst apart on 8th May, showering the port with molten lava, ash and gas, destroying all the buildings and taking a large number of lives.

 8. Nevado del Ruiz, Colombia : In 1985, this Andean volcano gave warning signs that it was about to erupt; but the local people were not evacuated soon enough. On 13th November, the hot steam, rocks and ash ejected from Nevado del Ruiz melted its icecap, causing a mudslide. This completely engulfed the town of Armero.

Facts About Endangered Animals

The saddest fact is that human activities are bringing an ever-increasing decline in the number of animal species. While numerable species have gone into extinction and belong to the museums of the world, there are still many that are endangered as of today. They are slowly moving towards being extinct. There are animal activists around the world, who are making every attempt to save these species.

Here are some interesting facts about endangered animals…

Presently there are 38 known species of mammals that are extinct. However, of them there are some that are kept in captivity with scientists trying to save them from going extinct.

With global warming becoming a major issue, the fact is the existing 28,270 animal species of mammals are threatened by the harms done to the planet.

6,524 vertebrate-species were listed as threatened, in the year 2006. In the same year – 2006 – 2,101 invertebrate-species were listed to be threatened.

In 2006, 253 fish-species were listed as critically endangered.

In 2006, 442 amphibian-species were listed as critically endangered.

81 species of animals are considered extinct or critically endangered, as well as endangered or vulnerable.

The number of animal listed in the U.S.A., is 935.

There are over 1,000 animal species that are endangered at varied levels, across the world.

The endangered animal species are classified into the following for categories:

The vulnerable species :
They are not a threatened species, but are at risk because of their natural declining numbers.

The threatened species :
This is that category of species that are adequate in numbers, but are facing high-risk in their natural surroundings that can lead to the probability of extinction. Examples of such species are eastern indigo snake and the red kangaroo.

The endangered species :
This category includes species that are in the immediate probability of becoming extinct. These species require protection to exist. Examples of such species are the Siberian tiger, the southern sea otter, the snow leopard, etc.

The extinct species :
This category of animal-species includes those that are not in existence at all. Examples include the passenger pigeon, dodo, Stegosaurus, etc.

Wild animals Facts

In school one has been taught about the general classification of animals being – domestic and wild animals. The former being those that are domesticated and kept in households; the latter belonging to their own wild natural habitat.

Wild animals have always aroused a lot of curiosity amongst people of all ages, especially children who are told fascinating stories about the animals of the jungles.

Well, to add to the ever-existing interest, here are some fascinating wild animal facts…

Each species of grasshopper has its own song. This is important, as the varied species cannot breed with each other. The female needs to be aware that she is listening to a male from her own species.

Compass termites of Northern Australia build tall nests that are wedge-shaped. They measure up to 3.5 m in length.

Flying frogs change color in the day. They are greenish-blue in sunlight and green in the evening. At night there are black.

Boas, as well as many other snakes have special heat-sensitive organs that are called pits. These pits are on their heads. They can detect the heat given by a warm-blooded animal standing close to them.

The king Cobra can grow to the length of 5.5 m, and is regarded as the largest poisonous snake in the world. A tiny amount of its poison can kill up to 30 people.

Anteaters protect their long claws by walking on their knuckles. This makes them look as if they are limping.

Bats eat all types of food. There is no restriction where their diet is concerned.

The hippopotamus’s eyes, ears and nostrils are on the top of its head. This enables it to stand or sit, almost completely covered by water with as little as possible showing above the surface.

The hippopotamus’s skin is protected by its own pink oily secretion known as ‘Pink sweat’.