mammals

RITA THE RAT!!

Hello everyone! My name is Rita the Rat. I am the new professor of geography and habitats at the University of Ellie and Edmond! I am so super excited to be teaching everyone about habitats around the world! We animals live in extremes, from the driest desert to the coldest Antarctic homes. I get to tell you about these types of habitats and where they are located on the planet. I’ll even be sharing some of the local customs and languages of the people that may share the habitat with the animals.

I’m a Norwegian rat and my relatives live all over the world. We’re also know to be kept as pets and I must say we are generally a very friendly lot! We are very social animals and usually live in large family groups. We get a bad reputation, but we are very important! We are scavengers and help keep things clean and many of my wild relatives are a big part of the food web! Did you know that there are rats who help humans detect land mines? That’s right, we are extremely helpful and I must say- adorable! I look forward to sharing the world with you here at the University!

PROFESSOR OF MAMMALS- BERTIE BEAR!

Hi! I’m Bertie the Bear! I’m new the professor of mammals here at the University of Ellie and Edmond! I’ll be teaching you about mammals that live all over the planet, including our marine mammal friends!
But before we get into why mammals are so awesome, I’m going to tell you all about myself.
I’m a brown bear. I grew up in the woods of Alaska where there is plenty of salmon, berries, nuts and seeds to eat. I have relatives all over the world, including in Asia and Europe. I am the top predator in my woodland habitat, but don’t worry I’m a friendly bear. I’ve spent most of my bear life traveling around learning about other mammals of the world, we sure are a diverse group.
In my spare time I like to hang out with my friends, eat salmon and bagels and talk about how we can save our planet. I also love to eat honey pies when I get the inkling. I look forward to this exciting first year at the University and to meeting all of you!

Hi everyone! We’re working on the new ellieandedmond.com- we’ll be posting infrequently for the next few weeks. Today we’re celebrating World Orangutan Day with last year’s post! We’ll share with you some great new details of the new website very soon!

WORLD ORANGUTAN DAY!!!

We’re celebrating some orange apes today! These amazing great apes call Asia home. They are amazingly intelligent and have culture! These special creatures that we share the planet with are losing their homes at an alarming rate! We’re going to tell you why you should love them and how you can help!

Some of the food orangutans eat!

• Orangutans are great apes.
• There are two species, the Bornean and the Sumantran.
• Orangutans are solitary in the wild.
• Orangutans are arboreal (spend most of their lives in trees.)
• They are frugivores.
• Orangutans are highly intelligent.
• Baby orangutans stay with their mothers for around 8 years, the longest of any primate.
• Orangutans have extremely long arm spans, up to 7 feet from finger tips to finger tips.
  
• Orangutans’ feet are built just like hands and help them climb in the trees.

We love those faces. Orangutans are losing their precious forest homes due to palm oil plantations. Palm oil is used in many products and food. It is very hard to avoid totally. Cheyenne Mountain Zoo has a wonderful resource for consumers to use. They have a list of products that use palm oil that is produced in a sustainable manner and is not taking over orangutans homes. This resource is a great tool to help orangs! Visiting your local zoo and learning more about these apes is a great way to help! Our local zoo, Zoo Atlanta does some fantastic research with orangutans. They are learning to use computers!

Check out the Cheyenne Mountain Zoo website. They even have a nifty app you can take with you when you are shopping!

Learn more about Zoo Atlanta’s Orangutan Learning Tree Project! They are doing some amazing work! We’ll be participating in the Redhead Run here in Atlanta to support orangutans to

WORLD GIRAFFE DAY!!

What has four knobby knees, a super long neck and two ossicones on top of their head?  A GIRAFFE!! Today is World Giraffe Day and we’re celebrating the tallest animal on the planet! These spotty funny looking animals are one of favorites! We’re going to share some fun facts and a great coloring sheet for you!

Any guess on why June 21st is World Giraffe Day? It’s because it’s the longest day of the year and they have the longest necks!!

• All giraffes live in Africa, in desert or savannas.
• Giraffes can grow up to 19ft tall.
• Their tongues are 21″ long.

• Giraffes are herbivores and eat all throughout the day.
• A giraffe’s heart is the size of a basketball.
• Giraffes can run up to 35 miles per hour.
•  A giraffe’s foot is the size of a dinner plate.

Answer:  7

CAT HABITATS!

As we said before we have a little game today! We’re going to put up some pictures of wild cats and you have guess the habitat they live in! Are you ready? (answers are waaaaay below)

Where does the cheetah live?

Where does the cougar live?

Where does the jaguar live?

Where does the Canadian lynx live?

Where does the ocelot live?

Where does the sand cat live?

Where does the Amur tiger live?

Amur Tiger: tundra/forest

Canadian Lynx: tundra/forest

Cheetah: savannah

Sand Cat: desert

Ocelot: rainforest/mangroves

Jaguar: rainforest/swamps/grasslands

Cougar: canyons/mountains/ brush areas