science

WE SPY!

Posted on March 31, 2015 by Ellie and Edmond ©

WE SPY!

We Spy with our four little eyes this animal that lives on the prairie! This member of the canine family is found not just on the prairie, but across North America. Can you guess who we spy?

Categories: adventure, Animals, Children, conservation, education, Environment, mammals, nature, science, wildlife | Tags: adventure, animals, children, conservation, education, environment, mammals, nature, science, wildlife | 1 Comment

SCIENCE WORD OF THE WEEK!

Posted on March 30, 2015 by Ellie and Edmond ©

SCIENCE WORD OF THE WEEK!

Welcome to class and Happy Monday! We’ve had a big week here at the University! Ellie and Edmond will be posting some fun posts about their adventure sleeping at Zoo Atlanta and meeting an amphibian scientist! We’ll also be meeting an animal that is associated with today’s Science word! Are you ready to learn it?

Today’s Science Word is Prairie: a large tract of grassland. There are prairies found in North America. They have a temperate climates. These prairies are flat. They have a great diversity of life too.

prairie dog

elk

Coyote

Burrowing owl

Black Footed Ferret

Categories: adventure, Animals, Children, conservation, education, Environment, nature, science, vocabulary, wildlife | Tags: adventure, animals, children, conservation, education, environment, nature, science, vocabulary, wildlife | 3 Comments

MANATEE APPRECIATION DAY!!

Posted on March 25, 2015 by Ellie and Edmond ©

MANATEE APPRECIATION DAY!!

It’s Manatee Appreciation Day! We love these gentle marine mammals! We have visited them in places in Florida before. We’re going to share some fun facts about the fabulous animals and a great craft you can make too!

Manatees are also called sea cows.
They live in coastal waters and rivers in the Southeastern U.S. and Central and South America.

They have strong flat tails.
Their nostrils sit on top to help them breathe air.

Manatees are herbivores. They eat algae and grasses.
They have no natural predators.
Manatees are slow moving.
They can weigh up to 1,300 lbs.
Manatees are endangered.
Their closest relatives are the elephant and the rock hyrax. Hey- they’re related to Ellie!

Manatees are endangered due to things like boat strikes and pollution (they get caught in fishing nets). Many people are working to protect these beautiful gentle giants. A great way to help them- Never put trash in the ocean or rivers! Human’s pollution is devastating on our wild animal friends. Also check out Save the Manatee Club– they work very hard to protect manatees!

You can also make our great manatee bookmark and share your love of these animals with your friends or color our manatee with a cup of tea coloring page!

WE SPY!!!

Posted on March 24, 2015 by Ellie and Edmond ©

WE SPY!!

We spy with our four little eyes a large reptile who dominates the Nile! Who did we spy?

Categories: adventure, Animals, Children, conservation, education, Environment, nature, science, wildlife | Tags: adventure, animals, children, conservation, education, environment, reptiles, science, wildlife | 4 Comments

SCIENCE WORD OF THE WEEK!

Posted on March 23, 2015 by Ellie and Edmond ©

SCIENCE WORD OF THE WEEK!

We’re so glad you could make it to class today! We’re continuing our theme of reptiles this week! Who’s ready to learn the new word of the week!

Osteoderm: a bony plate in the skin. These bony plates form an armor or tough scaly skin to reptiles and amphibians. Many dinosaurs had osteoderms too! The best example of an osteoderm is on an alligator! Those bony plates help protect these large predators, that is if you get past the mouth full of razor sharp teeth! Ha!

Categories: adventure, Animals, Children, conservation, education, Environment, nature, reptiles, science, wildlife | Tags: adventure, animals, children, conservation, education, environment, nature, reptiles, science, wildlife | 2 Comments

SAVE THE FROGS DAY!

Posted on March 20, 2015 by Ellie and Edmond ©

SAVE THE FROGS DAY!

We’re celebrating frogs today! We usually would share some fun frog facts with you, but we learned of this excellent frog the other day and decided to feature it on Save The Frogs Day! Come meet the frog that is often called the Jaba the Hut of frogs! Hahaha!

WAXY MONKEY FROG!

Range/Habitat: South America/dry scrub forests

Diet: Insectivore: insects

Length: 2-3 inches

Conservation Status: least concern

Fun Facts:

Females are larger than males.
They are also called the painted monkey frog or grasping frog.
Waxy monkey frogs hunt at night and bask in the sun during the day.
Waxy monkey frogs walk rather than jump in the trees where they live.
They get their name from the waxy coating on their skin that help keeps them from drying out.
Waxy tree frogs make a nest for their eggs with a leaf that they fold over.

We love these amazing an odd looking frogs! They are a great species to help us Save The Frogs Day! Amphibians have been on the earth for millions of years and many ecosystems would not survive without them! Our frog friends are very important! GOOOOO FROGS!!! Can you answer Ellie’s trivia question? (answer below)

Answer: True

Categories: adventure, amphibians, Animals, Children, conservation, education, Environment, nature, science, wildlife | Tags: adventure, amphibians, animals, children, conservation, education, environment, nature, science, vocabulary, wildlife | 2 Comments

DRAGONS ARE REAL!!

Posted on March 19, 2015 by Ellie and Edmond ©

DRAGONS ARE REAL!!

If you guessed yesterday’s animal correct then you’ll be excited to meet them today! We had to travel all the way to the island of Komodo to find this large reptile! That is no easy task! It is a beautiful place though! Are you ready to learn about the amazing Komodo dragon?

Range/Habitat: Komodo island and other islands in Indonesia

Diet: Carnivore: pigs, deer, buffalo

Length/Weight: up to 10ft / 330 lbs

Conservation Status: vulnerable

Fun Facts:

Komodo dragons are the largest lizard on earth!
Their ancestors have been on earth for 100 million years.
Komodo dragons were not discovered by humans until 1912!
Komodo dragons are solitary.
Known for their deadly bites, a komodo dragon’s saliva is not poisonous.
Komodo dragons have forked tongues.
They can use those forked tongues to help them “smell” particles in the air up to a mile away!
Komodo dragons can eat up to 5 lbs in just a few minutes!

These real life dragons are amazing! Luckily, places like the San Diego Zoo are working in Komodo National Park to protect these ancient and magnificent lizards! Think you know the answer to Ellie’s trivia question? (answer down below)

-Answer is 60!

Categories: adventure, Animals, Children, conservation, education, Environment, nature, reptiles, science, vocabulary, wildlife | Tags: adventure, animals, children, conservation, education, environment, nature, reptiles, science, vocabulary, wildlife | 6 Comments

WE SPY!

WE SPY!!

We Spy with our four little eyes this large reptile! Can you guess who this predator is just by looking at its feet?

WHO DO WE SPY?

We’re feeling a little green today!

We’re feeling a little green today!

Happy St Patrick’s Day! In honor of celebrating all things green today we’ve found some fun animals with green in their name to share with you! Do you have a favorite green animal? Come meet some of ours!

Green Basilisk Lizard The natives to Central America are excellent swimmers.

Green sea turtles get their names for their greenish colored skin.

Emerald tree boas have prehensile tails.

Green iguanas can jump from trees as high as 40 feet in the air and land safely on the ground.

Green tree frogs are native to the Southeastern United States.

Green parakeets are herbivores!

The Great Green Macaw lives in small family groups in Central America!

SCIENCE WORD OF THE WEEK!

SCIENCE WORD OF THE WEEK!

Happy Monday and welcome to the University today! We hope you are having a great day! I’m excited to share this week’s word with you! We’re learning another field of study word! Are you ready? Let’s do this!

Today’s word is Herpetology: herpetology is the branch of biology that studies amphibians and reptiles. A herpetologists can study all of these or just amphibians or just reptiles. There area around 6,500 species of amphibians on earth and 9,500 species of reptiles! That makes for a huge amount of animals that can be studied! If you were a herpetologist what animal would you study?