Where do manatees live?

Let’s join these friendly manatees on a swim through a clear river in the US state of Florida, where November is designated Manatee Awareness Month. Generally solitary animals, manatees are also known to be curious and will approach boats. That's why Florida enforces special speed zones for watercraft, particularly as the manatees are on the move to find warmer waters in which to spend the winter. While manatees have no known natural predators, they remain a vulnerable species due to loss of habitat and collisions with boats.

Most Florida manatees live in shallow and marshy coastal areas where they feed on sea grass, mangrove leaves and algae. The ocean’s largest herbivore, these “sea cows” can gorge themselves on greenery for almost half the day. And what could be better than a nap after all that food? Manatees will often sleep underwater for the other half of the day, surfacing for air every 20 minutes or so and grazing for food again in shallow waters. Manatees are pretty smart. They've been known to learn basic tasks, recognise people and differentiate colours.

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Which famous museum is this?

Today we're featuring an image of the Jardin des Tuileries and the Louvre to highlight the Paris Photo art fair, which is on until Sunday at the historic Grand Palais. Without its iconic pyramid in the frame, the Louvre can be difficult for the casual observer to identify. But this view of the world's largest art museum shows the architectural elegance that has defined the Louvre for centuries.

Paris Photo is the world's largest art fair dedicated to photography. Since 1997, the mission of the fair has been 'to promote and nurture photographic creation and the galleries, publishers and artists at its source'. Starting today, around 200 exhibitors, leading galleries and speciality publishers, along with Parisian cultural institutions, will give visitors a unique look at both historical and contemporary photographic works of art.

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Where are we stargazing?

Here on the North Shore of Lake Superior in the United States, under a canopy of stars, it seems fitting that the official state motto for Minnesota is L’Étoile du Nord, or ‘Star of the North’. Minnesota is also known as the "Land of 10,000 Lakes", although there are 11,842 lakes that are at least 10 acres in size to be exact, but who’s counting? It was on this day, May 11, in 1858 that Minnesota was admitted as the 32nd US state.

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What kind of mammal is a lemur?

What better place to see in World Lemur Day than Madagascar? The world’s fourth largest island, off the southeast coast of Africa, is home to more than 100 species and subspecies of the animals. Most are small, with a pointed nose, large eyes and a tail. They mainly live in trees and can be highly social, like the ring-tailed lemurs on our homepage, or live a solitary existence like the elusive aye-aye. Lemurs have opposable thumbs and five fingers with fingernails on each hand, marking them out as members of the primate order of mammals. About 65 million years ago, scientists believe, lemurs drifted on rafts of vegetation from the African continent to the shores of Madagascar. Safe from competition and most predators, lemurs evolved into many highly specialised varieties and now can be found in almost all habitats on the island.

But lemurs are under increasing threat from hunting and forest destruction - a threat so great they're considered to be the most endangered group of primates in the world. World Lemur Day, held on the last Friday in October, aims to raise awareness and encourage conservation to protect these extraordinary creatures from extinction.

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Can you guess where we are?

The County Bridge has offered a picturesque passage over the Contoocook River in the US state of New Hampshire since 1937. Why build a covered bridge? In a word, longevity. The roof and walls help protect the timber supports from rot. By comparison, an uncovered wooden bridge lasts an average of 20 years, while the covered variety can reach 100 years or more.

But even their durable reputation couldn't withstand the drive toward faster travel - trains, cars, lorries and the heavier loads that came with them. As iron and then steel replaced timber as the bridge-building material of choice, covered bridges gradually went the way of the horse and cart that used to cross them. Out of about 12,000 covered bridges that were built in the US, only 750 remain today - a quarter of which can be found in the state of Pennsylvania.

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Where's this mountain range?

The Cuillin mountains on the beautiful Isle of Skye are separated into two dramatic ranges which dominate the island's landscape: the Black Cuillin and the Red Cuillin. The iconic ridge of the Black Cuillin, seen in the background of our photo, was formed some 60 million years ago from the remains of the magma chambers which fed volcanic eruptions. About seven miles long, it's considered the UK's most challenging and spectacular mountain range, containing 11 Munros (a mountain in Scotland with a height over 3,000 feet) and 16 other summits. The rugged peaks of the Black Cuillin are mainly composed of gabbro, a coarse-grained rock with excellent grip for mountaineering.

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Cabo de Gata-Níjar Natural Park, Spain

After exploring the sprawling 177 square miles of protected desert landscape, a dip in the Mediterranean might be just the thing to revive a weary traveller. Welcome to Cabo de Gata-Níjar Natural Park, the largest protected coastal wilderness in Andalusia, in southern Spain. A few small villages lie within Cabo de Gata, offering visitors a chance to get a brief glimpse of civilisation before venturing off into the park’s various protected natural regions. And once you’ve exhausted all the terrestrial treasures here, the Mediterranean coastal reefs offer new levels of wild exploration.

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