CROCODILE TEARS? AN ALARM CLOCK ... WITH A CREST! REALLY DANGEROUS FELINE BATHS!
AS SLY AS A FOX! A CHAMELEON’S COLORS
MICE’S FAVORITE SNACK
A WOLF’S CALL
LET’S ANALYZE THE NEWS: PANIC AT THE ZOO
A TRULY OPPRESSIVE JOB! BULKY HEADGEAR TRAVEL STORIES A SWEET AND ROYAL LIE A
ONCE UPON A TIME, THERE WAS ... A TALL TALE
FOR A GREAT MAN PIRATES OR SQUIRRELS?
LET’S ANALYZE THE NEWS: TUTANKHAMUN’S CURSE
A NOBEL PRIZE WINNER ... WEARING A DUNCE HAT? UNLUCKY … LIGHTNING BOLTS! A TRULY INSPIRING NAP
WEATHER ALERT: IT’S SNOWING DOUBTS!
LET’S ANALYZE THE NEWS: IT’S RAINING SHARKS!
LET’S ANALYZE THE NEWS: A HISTORIC EVENT ... STILL TO BE VERIFIED!
THE OSTRICH APPROACH!
DANGEROUS SITUATION? DO WHAT AN OSTRICH DOES!
Hide your head in a hole in the ground; this is how one of the largest birds in the world deals with everyday dangers in the savannah.
QUESTION:
DO OSTRICHES HIDE THEIR HEADS IN THE SAND OUT OF FEAR?
NO!
When we see an ostrich with its head close to the ground, there are reasons why: It’s looking for food, like grass, with its beak, or it’s arranging its eggs in a hole.
A COMMON MISCONCEPTION: a piece of information that’s so widespread it’s believed to be true, even if it’s not! IS THIS A COMMON MISCONCEPTION?
A CHAMELEON’S COLORS
THE KING OF CAMOUFLAGE
No animal can hide in its surrounding environment as well as the chameleon; its fame precedes it! The chameleon has no rival in defending itself against predators.
QUESTION:
DOES THE CHAMELEON CHANGE COLOR JUST TO HIDE FROM PREDATORS?
NO!
Chameleons also use color change to communicate with other individuals or in courtship rituals. But it also depends on their state of mind and the conditions of the external environment.
LET’S ANALYZE THE NEWS
“
PANIC AT THE ZOO
Last Thursday, visitors at one of America’s most famous zoos had a truly terrifying experience: One of the zoo’s elephants tried to escape from its pen. Apparently, the pachyderm ran around the courtyard a few times and then tried to jump over the wall. The zoo employees struggled to calm it down. Watching the camera footage the next day, they discovered what had made the animal so agitated. The elephant had been scared by a tiny mouse, which had appeared while it was drinking. After causing so much chaos, the mouse went into hiding and was never seen again.
FIND THE FOLLOWING INFORMATION IN THE TEXT...
WHAT’S THE NAME OF THE ZOO WHERE IT HAPPENED? IS THERE AN EXACT DATE OF WHEN IT HAPPENED?
HAVE YOU FOUND THE ANSWERS TO THE QUESTIONS? IF THIS INFORMATION ISN’T THERE, BE DUBIOUS!
A TRULY OPPRESSIVE JOB!
SWEATING IN THE DESERT
The pyramids of Egypt are grandiose structures that were used as monumental tombs, and they were built by thousands of slaves. For years these people were forced to build these huge structures, risking their lives!
QUESTION:
WERE THE PYRAMIDS IN ANCIENT EGYPT BUILT BY SLAVES?
NO!
This mistaken belief is due to Herodotus, an ancient Greek historiographer who, in the 5th century BCE, wrote that the pyramids were built by “oppressed” workers—a misunderstanding that lasted for hundreds of years, until new discoveries were made by archaeologists. In ancient Egypt, skilled laborers were employed for this formidable project, and they lived in purpose-built villages near the pyramids.
TRAVEL STORIES
DISCOVERED OR JUST REACHED?
While on an expedition in search of Asia, the Italian navigator Christopher Columbus discovered the American continent when he arrived at an island in today’s Bahamas. He was convinced that he’d reached the Indies, but it was actually an unknown land.
QUESTION:
CAN WE REALLY SAY CHRISTOPHER
COLUMBUS WAS THE FIRST
TO “DISCOVER” AMERICA?
NO!
Archaeological discoveries have shown that some Norsemen (people who lived in Scandinavia) reached Greenland and Canada centuries before Columbus’s voyage, and they even built villages in which they lived for many years before abandoning them. Christopher Columbus was not the first European to set foot on the American continent.
LET’S ANALYZE THE NEWS “
TUTANKHAMUN’S CURSE
On April 5, 1923, the famous Lord Carnarvon died in the city of Cairo, Egypt. The English nobleman was passionate about Egyptology and was the main financier of the expedition made by the archaeologist Howard Carter, who had found the tomb of the pharaoh Tutankhamun the previous year. The man’s mysterious death, which happened after a long illness, cast a sinister shadow over the entire team of experts who participated in the excavation. Apparently, there is a mysterious curse on the tomb: Anyone who disturbs the sleep of the pharaoh will be cursed. Most of those present at the time of the sarcophagus’s discovery died over the following months.
QUESTION:
IS THERE REALLY A CURSE ON THOSE WHO OPEN THE PHARAOH’S TOMB?
NO!
Studies and research have shown that the people who participated in the expedition died within twenty years of its discovery. Lord Carnarvon was the only one to die shortly after, and he’d been ill for some time. The curse was therefore a gimmick, artfully created by newspapers.
A NOBEL PRIZE WINNER
... WEARING A DUNCE HAT?
“
ZERO IN BEHAVIOR
Albert Einstein, a scientist who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1921 and was famous for his groundbreaking theory of relativity, was a real dunce at school! He was held back and struggled to get his diploma.
QUESTION:
WAS ALBERT EINSTEIN REALLY A BAD STUDENT?
NO! The young Einstein had excellent grades in math and physics. However, he did have some problems with school discipline, and he got low grades in French. Nothing prevented him from graduating from college in math and physics at the age of 21.
WEATHER ALERT: IT’S SNOWING DOUBTS!
GLOBAL WARMING? BUT IT’S SNOWING!
In the central areas of the United States, winter can bring polar winds reaching 124 miles per hour (200 km/h) and temperatures as low as 40 degrees below zero. Many people don’t understand all the alarmism about global warming when there’s such “icy” phenomena.
QUESTION:
DOES GLOBAL WARMING REALLY EXIST WHEN THERE ARE SUCH COLD WINTERS?
YES!
Be careful to distinguish between weather and climate. Particularly cold days, with extreme weather phenomena, are concentrated events that take place in limited periods of time. The climatic conditions of the planet, on the other hand, are studied on the basis of measurements—average temperature, for example—that are compared over decades. These show the reality of global warming.
ART FROM ANOTHER PLANET
HAVE THE ALIENS LANDED?
“
CREATIVE ALIENS
Concentric patterns, created by flattening crops, were discovered in a wheat field. It almost looked like they were left by a huge aircraft. Could it be the work of aliens?!
QUESTION:
ARE CROP CIRCLES PROOF THAT EXTRATERRESTRIAL LIFE-FORMS EXIST?
NO!
When a photo of a new crop circle circulates, it’s most certainly the work of humans! It’s a prank.
