Happy Holidays!
We’re taking the week off for the holiday! We’ll be back next week to meet some echinoderm friends! See you then!
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Happy Holidays!
Categories: adventure, Animals, camp, Children, conservation, Environment, nature, oceans, science, Today's Post, wildlife
Tags: animals, blog, education, nature, oceans, science, wildlife
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Hello Songbird
Hello Songbird
We are meeting a favorite woodland bird today! They are can be spotted all year long!
Meet the Northern Cardinal!
Categories: adventure, Animals, birds, Children, conservation, education, Environment, nature, science, Today's Post, wildlife
Tags: adventure, animal facts, animals, birds, blog, conservation, education, education blog, nature, nature blog, science, wildlife
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Meet the King!
Meet the King!
We met the king of Antarctica today! Most people think that all penguins call the South Pole home, but only 8 species live in this harsh environment. Today though we are meeting the King penguins. Sadly they don’t wear crowns.
King Penguins Fun Facts:
- These birds are the 2nd largest penguin species in the world. Do you remember the largest?
- Kings are easy to spot with their oranges spots on their heads and beaks and chests.
- Both parents incubate the egg on their feet and brooding pouch, switching the egg every few weeks.
- These efficient carnivores can dive as deep as 950 feet. More commonly they go around to 164 feet deep.
- The chicks look very different than the adults. They are fluffy and brown! Scientists first thought they were a separate species when they first saw them.
- Chicks stay with their parents and the colony for almost a year. This means king penguins only have one to two chicks every two-three years.
- They are currently listed as Least Concern by the IUCN.
We love these gregarious birds and their bright orange colorations. They always make us and laugh and of course we always practice our waddling after seeing them.
Categories: adventure, Animals, birds, Children, conservation, education, Environment, nature, science, Today's Post, wildlife
Tags: animals, birds, blog, children, conservation, education, envrionment, nature, nature blogs, penguins, science, wildlife
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Hello Kitty!
Hello Kitty!
We are excited to meet our first animal of this year’s travels. We unpacked our gear at our camp. We’ll be exploring several kinds of habitats here the Southwest. We spent our first evening looking for a wild cat, the ocelot. These spotted cats roam in the southern most regions of the southwest. They are not easy to spot, but we were lucky and found one!
Ocelot Fun Facts:
- Ocelots are mostly nocturnal. Like all cats, they are carnivores. They eat rabbits, rodents, birds and reptiles.
- Ocelots can swim well.
- Ocelots are mostly solitary. They scent mark their territories.
- They are kept as pets, which is a very bad idea. They are not like your domestic housecat, They are strong and destructive. These cats belong in the wild.
- They are know to be shy.
- Females give birth to a litter in a den, where the cubs will stay til they around 3 months old.
These small big cats are gorgeous. The were once listed as threatened by the IUCN because they were hunted for their coats. They still are losing habitat, but for now their populations are stable. Yay!!!
Categories: adventure, Animals, Children, conservation, education, endangered species, Environment, nature, science, Today's Post, wildlife
Tags: adventure, animals, blog, children, conservation, education, environment, nature blogs, science, wildlife
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Back to Basics- Producers/Consumers
Back to Basics- Producers/Consumers
We learned all the vocabulary for what animals are called by what they eat! Today we are talking a bit more about the food web with producers and consumers!
Plants/Producers: Plants produce their own food. They convert energy from the sun, carbon dioxide and water from the soil to make glucose/sugar. This is called photosynthesis.
Animals/Consumers: Animals get their energy/food from other sources since they can not produce it themselves. They consumer either plants, other animals or both to live.
Consumers are broken down in to three categories:
Primary: animals that are herbivores.
Secondary: animals that are omnivores and carnivores.
Tertiary: animals are often called apex predators. They are at the top of the of the food chain. They are either carnivores or omnivores.
Fungus/Bacteria/Decomposers: Decomposers break down decaying organic (plant/animal) material and return it to the soil! Some insects do this also.
As you can begin to imagine, the food web is a delicate balance! If you remove one animal/plant from a the ecosystem then you can put the whole system out of whack and endanger certain animals. If a apex predator disappears, then a primary consumer can overpopulate and their resources can reach capacity!
At one time the southern sea otter was hunted to very low numbers. These carnivores eat urchins and keep their populations in check. The urchins eat kelp. When there are no sea otters to eat the urchins, the urchins begin to eat the kelp forest at alarming rates. Without the kelp forest, many other fish and invertebrates would lose their habitat. As the otters populations have grown after being protected, the balance of the kelp forest has been restored!
Categories: adventure, Animals, Children, conservation, education, Environment, nature, science, Today's Post, vocabulary, wildlife
Tags: animals, blog, children, conservation, education, envrionment, nature, science, vocabulary, wildlife
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Back to Basics- Birds
Back to Basics- Birds
Our professor of birds is Professor Baxter and he is a Blue footed Booby! He’s going to share some basics about about birds!
There are around 9,000 species of birds in the world. We are in every habitat on earth. Because we are so adaptable, we are considered the most successful animal on the planet. The earliest birds were descendants of the dinosaurs. Fossils of my long lost relatives have been found that are 150 million years old.
What makes a bird a bird?
- We have feathers. Our feathers are made from keratin.
- We are endothermic (warm blooded).
- We lay eggs.
- We are vertebrates.
- We have hollow bones. This helps us fly.
- We have no teeth.
Feathers are our most distinctive feature. Feathers are made of keratin (the same protein that makes up human hair and nails). We have flight feathers on our wings. We have down feathers close to our body to keep us warm. Our tail feathers are made to help us fly. We must preen (clean) our feathers to keep them healthy. There are some birds who cannot fly including; kiwi, kakapo (the heaviest parrot on earth), penguins and ostrich.
Our beaks/bills are also covered in keratin and they are shaped for what type of food we eat.
Instead of paws, we have feet. Our feet have 2 to 4 toes. Most of us have 4 toes, 3 that face forward and one that faces backward. This is perfect for sitting on tree branches. Those birds that spend time in water have webbed feet.
We must keep our body temperature at 104 degrees. It is important that we control our heat loss.
Lastly, we lay eggs. Our mating rituals include dancing, songs and plumage displays. Our eggs are made of calcium carbonate. We lay eggs in nests, on rocks, on the beach and even on the ground. Some of us are born without feathers and our eyes closed. Some of us are, like ducks, are born with down feathers and our eyes open.
Categories: adventure, Animals, birds, Children, conservation, education, Environment, nature, science, Today's Post, wildlife
Tags: animals, birds, blog, children, conservation, education, environment, nature, nature blogs, science, wildlife
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Old Bright Eyes!
Old Bright Eyes!
We spent our last day at camp this week looking for a small amphibian with big bright eyes. Good thing we have binoculars, because spotting these tiny frogs was not easy!
Date: 3/23
Location: Madagascar
Green bright-eyed frog fun facts:
- Green bright eyed frogs have a blue ring around the outer iris.
- They are green with little spots and can change their color to a more reddish tone.
- Green bright eyed frogs have webbed feet.
- During breeding season males call during the night to look for a mate.
- Females lay their eggs in water.
We had lovely time exploring the forest for these tiny frogs. So many sightings of them and other fascinating creatures! We really love this place!
Categories: adventure, amphibians, Animals, Children, conservation, education, Environment, nature, science, Today's Post, wildlife
Tags: adventure, animal, blog, children, conservation, education, frogs, nature, nature blogs, science, wildlife
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Today’s Post
The Adventures of Ellie and Edmond 