Mandarin Chinese is spoken by more than 1 billion people and is the most spoken language worldwide. It is the official language of China, Taiwan and one of the four official languages of Singapore. It is one of the six official languages of the United Nations. English is the second most spoken language with 512…
The elephant has the longest gestation period at 22 months. This is longer than that of the blue whale, which is one year. Some species of dolphins have a gestation period of 17 months and sperm whales carry their young for up to 19 months. Rhinos have a gestation period of about 450 days. Owing…
The gates of the walled city of Delhi were built by different rulers at different times. Delhi is an aggregate of nine cities. In the seventh city built by Shah Jahan, there were 14 gates. However, there are only five gates that are standing today. These are Ajmeri Gate facing Ajmer in Rajasthan; Lahori Gate…
Aluminium cans can take up to 500 years to break down. The rate of break-down depends on the decomposition environment. For example, the aluminium cans may decay in about 80 to 100 years when put in sea water. Aluminium cans can be recycled into cans, plates and many other articles.
Vincent Willem van Gogh was a celebrated Dutch artist. In 1889, when he was 35 years old, he suffered bouts of depression, and got himself admitted to an asylum in Saint-Rémy-de-Provence. There he created some of his famous paintings, such as Starry Night, Olive Trees with the Alpilles in the Background and Cypresses.
Glaciers are formed at the North and South Poles and in high mountains, such as the Himalayas. Glaciers are sometimes known as rivers of snow. The snow remains for more than a year and as more snow falls, the lower layers get compressed, forming ice. This ice is called glacial ice. Glacial ice can be…
