Why do we need to protect ourselves against ticks?
Ticks transmit dangerous diseases so we should be on the look out for them while walking in the forest or in a large field. If they have bitten and are still attached to the blood in the skin, they should be removed carefully by forceps. The ticks release food remains in the blood of the ‘host’ when they bite. Sometimes disease-causing germs are transferred to our blood in this way. Ticks are responsible for many diseases such as Lyme disease, Colorado tick fever, tularemia, tick-borne relapsing fever, babesiosis, ehrlichiosis, tick-borne meningoencephalitis, and bovine anaplasmosis.
It is easy to distinguish between the large fallow deer, the red deer, and the small deer. The male red deer has royal antlers with several ends, while a roebuck (male roe deer) has only one small horn. The small deer, red deer, and fallow deer belong to the biological family of the stag, which also includes the moose and the reindeers. The small deer, weighing about 15 kg, are the most frequently seen today. They live in the area between forest and arable land. The female doe can give birth to two to three fawns, which bear three long series of white spots on the back. Red deer weigh up to 150 kg and prefer to live in forest clearings. The hinds (female red deer) can give birth to a maximum of one calf in a year.
A forest is a large area of land covered with trees. Forests can be classified into many types, some of which are the mixed temperate forests with both coniferous and deciduous trees, the temperate forests, the subtropical forests, the tropical forests, and the equatorial rainforests. The trees that make up the forest create a special environment which, in turn, affects the kinds of animals and plants that can exist in the forest. Large and small animals such as the stags, deer, wild boars, foxes, badgers, marten, and squirrels live in the forests.
Although an oak apple looks like a fruit, it is actually a deformed leaf hanging by its stem or petiole on the underside of oak leaves. Gall wasps form oak apples. In summer, the female wasp injects its eggs into the leaves of oak trees. The larvae that hatch inside the leaf are small and round. As they grow, they cause a chemical reaction that forms a gall around the larvae. These larvae eat and grow within the gall before emerging as adult wasps.
Many birds such as starlings, cranes, and swallows migrate to the south in autumn because they do not find enough food in winter. It is not good to feed the birds because it may disturb their regular habits of finding food for themselves. Their destination and the migratory path is the same every year. For years, scientists puzzled over the birds’ ability to take exactly the same path every year but now it is assumed that birds possess a ‘magnetic sense of direction’ and orient themselves to the magnetic field of the Earth, using the position of the sun during the day, and the stars at night.
Moles spend a large part of their lives in a self-dug burrow system below the ground. The animals push the loose earth that is a result of digging to the earth’s surface after every 50-100 cm. The result is a typical molehill, about 20 cm high. Sometimes we also come across huge hills with air holes all around. Below these molehills the moles make a nest in which they give birth to their young ones.
A lot of activities are carried out in our gardens by animals and insects living underground, such as moles, rats, and earthworms. Upon a closer look, we can also find animal tracks on the leaves of the spherical oak-apple tree or the fine webs with which spiders catch their prey. Besides the animals hidden underground, there are birds that chirp and fly around in the gardens. 
‘Survival of the fittest’ describes the evolution theory of Charles Darwin. In the struggle to survive, the species that are healthy, strong, and have adapted themselves best to their environment will win. They ensure their survival through healthier genetic material that is passed on to their offspring. Thus, a giraffe with a longer neck can reach leaves high on the trees to feed himself. While a giraffe with a shorter neck may stay hungry, since he has access only to the leaves lower on the tree. Eventually, the hungry giraffe may become so weak that he falls prey to lions.
Dinosaurs existed on Earth 65 million years ago. Today, the scientists believe that their mass extinction was triggered by a huge meteorite hit to the east of Mexico. The meteorite impact caused blasts and flood waves. Huge quantities of poisonous gases filled the Earth’s atmosphere. Then there was acid rain that polluted the seas and the plants died. Huge dust clouds blocked the heat from the sun and it became cold. The cold-blooded dinosaurs became sluggish and starved. Young ones did not hatch from their eggs. Only the small animals, which adapted themselves quickly and did not need a lot of food, survived.
The grey whale lived around 300 years ago in the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. The giant animals were hunted extensively for their meat and oil. They became extinct in the Atlantic by the end of the 17th century, but can still be found in the Pacific Ocean. Around 20,000 animals migrate every year in October from Alaska in the north to the coast of Mexico, where they give birth to their young ones in winter. In west pacific, there are at most 200 grey whales at present and they are listed as critically endangered. These animals are sensitive to noise and are being displaced from their habitat because of the construction of drilling rigs for the crude oil industry.
