About this universe
Sylvora is the wide clearing where animals and leaves keep their secrets. Here you learn why dogs circle before lying down, why cats purr, or why fungi are neither plant nor animal. And when a shiver runs across your skin, that's still an animal speaking inside you.
The whys of this universe
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Why do cats' eyes glow in the dark?
Because a mirror at the back of their eye, the tapetum lucidum, sends light a second time toward the cells that catch it.
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Why do cats purr?
Purring comes from the larynx, which makes the passing air vibrate; cats use it to calm themselves, to ask for things, and perhaps to heal.
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Why do leaves turn red in autumn?
Because once a tree stops making chlorophyll, the yellows hiding underneath finally show, and certain species also build a brand-new red just before letting their leaves go.
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Why do dogs circle before lying down?
Because it's a leftover from their wolf ancestors: turning in circles flattened the grass, hollowed out a sleeping spot, scared off insects and snakes, and let the dog face into the wind. The need disappeared; the ritual didn't.
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Why aren't fungi plants or animals?
Because they don't photosynthesise like plants and have no digestive system like animals, and their DNA places them in a kingdom of their own, closer to us than to any tree.
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Why don't trees grow infinitely tall?
Past a certain height, a tree can no longer lift water to its highest leaves: the column of water snaps inside its channels before it reaches the crown.