GUESS THE ANIMAL!!
It’s time to Guess the Animal! We’ve been working on new posts to start next week! Look for a better Ellie and Edmond very soon! For now, can you guess the animal?
WHO IS IT?
SCIENCE WORD OF THE WEEK!
Welcome back students! We here at the University hope you had a lovely holiday if you had the day off yesterday!
We’re starting off the new week with a great word! So who’s ready to learn?
This week’s word is Mimicry: this is when one animal copies the behavior or appearance of an another animal to help protect them from predators.
There are loads of great examples of mimics in nature! I found a few pictures of animal mimics for you!
The Monarch is on the left and the Viceroy is on the right! Monarchs are toxic to birds, so it is beneficial to the viceroy to look like them!
Here in the U.S, we have a snake called the Eastern Coral Snake, a very venomous fellow. The King snake mimics their coloration to keep predators like hawks away! We have a saying to remember which is which: Red touches yellow, kills a fellow. Red touches black, friend of Jack.
ART CONTEST- DEADLINE EXTENDED!
We’ve extended the deadline for our art contest! We REALLY NEED your entries! Remember- the art will make a calendar that we are going to sale and ALL the proceeds will go to the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust! So get those entries in!
We need all entries by September 14, 2014!
Here are the rules:
We’re having an art contest and we want you to enter! We’ve wanted to make and Ellie and Edmond calendar for the last couple of years, but have never actually done it. This is where we want you! We’re looking for your Ellie and Edmond art to make into a calendar for 2015! Here are the rules:
We’ll have a limited numbers of calenders to purchase in the late fall. All proceeds from the calendar sales will go to the David Sheldrick Wildlife Trust, an organization that helps raise orphans elephants in Africa! So get those creative juices flowing and pull out those paint brushes! It’s time to create some great art and help orphan elephants too!
As we work on new We Are Fanimalys- here’s another one you made of missed!
WE ARE FANIMALY!!!
It’s another installment of We Are Fanimaly! Come learn who’s related to who!
That’s right everyone- hippos and whales are related to each other. This is recent discovery thanks to DNA. Scientist don’t have a full understanding of this relationship and it’s evolutionary timeline, but we think it is super cool!
HIPPO FUN FACTS!
• Hippopotamus means river horse.
• Hippos have clear membranes that help them see under water.
• Hippos cannot swim. They actually walk along riverbeds.
• Hippos “sweat” a red/pink mucus that helps keep their skin moist.
• Hippos spend most of their day in water and their nights on land grazing.
• Hippos are social animals and live in herds.
• Hippos have large canine and incisor teeth.
• Scientist have discovered in recent years that hippos sing songs underwater.
WHALE FUN FACTS!
• Whales are marine mammals.
• Blue whales are the largest mammal on earth.
• Orcas or Killer whales are actually the largest member of the dolphin family.
• Whales are carnivores.
• There are toothed whales and baleen whales.
• Toothed whales are smaller than baleen whales.
• Some whales, like the humpback sing songs to communicate with each other.
• Some whales use echolocation to find food.
• Many whales and dolphins are social animals.
GUESS THE ANIMAL!!
It’s time to Guess the Animal this week! Make sure you read the clues with this one :)!
WHO IS IT?
SCIENCE WORD OF THE WEEK!
Who is excited for class today? I hope you have had a great weekend! I have a great word for you today!
Plankton: tiny plants and animals that float in oceans and fresh water. These tiny organisms are some of the most abundant life forms on earth. Some plankton produce oxygen and some are eaten by other animals, including whales. Plankton is an important part of the food web.
We’re reposting our original We Are Fanimaly for all our new readers! New ones will be coming soon! We hope you enjoy it and let us know if you know of some animal families you would like added to our gallery!
WE ARE FANIMALY!©
We are so excited to introduce our new comic series- We Are Fanimaly!
Once a month (or more often if we can) we’ll post a comic showing two animals who are related! Some are quite shocking and some you probably already knew! We just want to increase your knowledge of the amazing animal kingdom and we want you to remember that we are ALL FANIMALY!
First up the only living relative of the tallest animal on earth- the Giraffe!
Giraffe Facts:
Okapi Facts:
• I live in Africa in the forests.
• My prehensile tongue is 13-15 inches long.
• I have stripes on my back end and legs.
• I am very shy.
• I do not have horns, they are called ossicones.
• My ossicones are part of my skull.
GUESS THE ANIMAL!!
It’s that awesome day of the week where you have to guess the animal! Take a look at the picture, read the clues and tell who you think it is!
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!
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 too!
SCIENCE WORD OF THE WEEK!!
It’s time to get down to the business of the Science Word of the Week! Who’s excited?
Today’s word is Echolocation!
Echolocation is the locating of objects by sending out sound waves and those sound waves reflecting to the animal, giving them an image of the object. Echolocation is used by bats and dolphins to help give them a picture of their environment and to help them locate prey.
DO
The Adventures of Ellie and Edmond 