The aardvark is from Africa. It is a very good digger and sleeps during the day and comes out at night to dig. Aardvarks are distantly related to elephants. Aardvarks eat ants and termites.

Aardvarks are extremely primitive in their makeup and could be called a living fossil.

Photo by MontageMan

An abacus was used for counting and adding up before calculators. It is made from beads on a frame that you slide backwards and forwards.

Photo by TheNickster

An abalone is a very large sea snail. Abalones are a different shape to most snails - they have a wide, flat shell. You can still see the spiral shape in their shell.

Abalones are caught and eaten as food, and their shells are used to make jewellery.

Photo by Chinogypsie

Australian aborigines were the first people to live in Australia. There were once many, many different tribes of aborigines, each with different traditions and languages.

Around 2% of the Australian population identifies as aboriginal.

Photo by Kevinzim

Art is abstract if it has been derived, or abstracted from something real but doesn't bear a close resemblance to what it is supposed to represent, like more traditional art does. Some parts of the art might be recognisable, some exaggerated, some downplayed. Abstract art can be so stylised you can't even recognise what it is, so sometimes when you look at an abstract picture or sculpture you can't tell what it is a picture or sculpture of.

Photo by Amir K.

The Abyssinian is an ancient breed of cat of uncertain origin, from either Egypt or Ethiopia. It is slim, lithe, and has a distinctive flecked (ticked) brown coat, large ears, and a long tail.

They are active, intelligent, curious cats. They make good pets, but need constant attention or they get bored and unhappy. They are excellent hunters, so this needs to be taken into consideration if you live near a wildlife reserve and want an Abyssinian as a pet.

Photo by John Morton

Scientific name: acanthus mollis

Acanthus, or bear's breeches, is an attractive, hardy ornamental perennial plant that grows to around a metre high. It has big, glossy dark green leaves and a tall flower spike. It often dies down during the drier months. It is extremely hardy and will tolerate heavy frost and heavy drought. It has thick roots, and if you try and dig the plant up it will regrow from any broken roots that are left behind. This makes it very easy to grow new plants from root cuttings or by breaking up a clump.

Photo by Antmoose

An accident is something that happens when you are not expecting it, and that you didn't mean to have happen. The opposite of something happening by accident is happening deliberately, or on purpose.

Photo by CJ Sorg

An accordion is an instrument that is played by squeezing it to make air flow through it, so it is sometimes called a squeezebox. It has a keyboard on one side you can play a tune on, and buttons on the other side that you can play preset chords with.

Photo by David Dennis Photos

Acorns are the nut of the oak tree. They start green like in the picture, and gradually go brown as they ripen. Squirrels are very fond of acorns.

Photo by PhylB