Which is the fastest Cat? Most of the big cats can move quickly when they have to, for the ability to catch fast-moving prey is necessary if they are to find food. A lame wild cat soon dies from hunger because it cannot catch its prey. The fastest cat, and indeed the fastest animal on four legs, is the cheetah. Lightly built with a muscular body and long legs, the cheetah...

Which is the largest Cat? Lions and tigers are the biggest of the cats, but because there is little to choose between them, it is difficult to say which is the largest. Hunters sometimes used to stretch the skins of lions and tigers they had shot, and this of course gave a rather false impression of the size of the animal when it was alive. 130th lions and tigers often grow...

How do big cats catch their prey? All the animals shown on this page are  members of the cat family. The big cats are well known for the way in which they hunt mid kill other animals to eat as food, although many of them will scavenge and eat dead animals, or carrion, when live prey is scarce. To be able to hunt other animals, cats have strong senses in order...

What is Motion? How astronomers came to understand the structure of the solar system. They arrived at their conclusions by observing the planets and measuring their distances from the Earth and the speed of their orbits. Their findings were not completely accurate because these astronomers did not understand the laws of motion. In fact, these were not fully under-stood until this century, when Einstein, continuing the work of Isaac Newton, formulated...

Why is Johann Kepler so important? Tycho Brahe first heard of Kepler when he read his book Mystery of the Universe, published in 1596. This supported Copernicus’s theory that the Sun was the centre of the Universe and tried to show how the distances of the planets could be worked out. Brahe was so impressed that he employed him to study the movements the planet Mars and so prove Brahe’s theory...

Who was Tycho Brahe? Tycho Brahe (1546-1601) was a brilliant Danish astronomer. King Frederick II of Denmark was so impressed with his skilled observations of the stars and planets that he gave him an island called Hven, near Copenhagen where Brahe built an observatory. Unfortunately, Tycho Brahe was reputed to have a most unpleasant character, and was much disliked by the inhabitants of the is-land. It is said that he lost...

Why is Indian music never played by orchestras?   Indian music is played by small groups of musicians. Often there is just a solo instrument and a small drum. The players like to make up the music as they play. If there were many more musicians, the music would have to be written down and the players would not be free to play as they like. For this reason, large orchestras...

What do folk dances mean? Nowadays, we enjoy folk dances as entertainment but many dances once had special meanings. Some dances originated as imitations of animals or of simple kinds of work such as wood-cutting or gathering the harvest,  to mark the passing of the seasons and to please the gods. Other dances reflect times of war or commemorate warriors’ deeds. Sword dances were originally war dances. In the East, dances...