manatees and dugongs ! 11/15

Marvelous Manatees

Manatees are lovely and sweet animals. Manatees love fresh water, and they live close to rivers and streams that have vegetation. Manatees are herbivores that have teeth that get so ground down that they have to drop the old and grow new ones. This helps them so much. Manatees are a minority species in the United States. The scientific name for them is Trichecus and are in the porpoise family. They have always been gentle and loving to each other. How babies find their mother is by their whiskers and the vibration signaling from their mother’s whiskers.

Memory is very very important for every animal. Manatees are amazing and graceful, but can be dangerous. Manatees can stay underwater for 20 minutes and swim up to 20 miles an hour. With being underwater, they use lots of energy.  They can swim because of the platypus tail. Manatees are endangered from boaters. Some manatees lose the mothers from boaters. Manatees sometimes eat trash or fish hooks that can kill the them.

 

Dugongs are animals that are related to the m

    Manatees spend most of their time in saltwater more than freshwater. Dugongs are have more of porpoise’s tale then a platypus’ tale. Dugongs love to be in warmer water and like to live in East Africa and Australia. They eat also vegetation, but can spend less time in the water. The dugongs are mammals and have live birth too. They are endangered for the same reason as the manatees. They are also poached. How come the dugongs have more a cup like  mouth? Why do  manatees eat plants ? How can I help?

Why we need to stop poaching! 11/8

Poaching – A Terrible Practice

The topic of poaching is one we all learn about,  but do we really think about it? Well, why should we? I mean, do we go home and think of all the beautiful lions that have died from poachers?  Poachers kill and take keratin from this animals just to sell it to the black market. There are many endangered animals in Africa including elephants, lions, rhinos, and many more!

In Africa 100,000 elephants are killed just for their ivory each year. Many elephants are hurt, but the sad thing for elephants is when an ancestor dies, the elephant will know it, and put its trunk on the bones of its family members. Rhinos are also slaughtered and plundered. I769 rhinos have died from poaching this year. The effects of poachers on the environment is catastrophic.

National Parks in Africa have made foundations and laws to stop the poaching. They also have infrared cameras that track and see the animals.The penalty is monetary fees and prison. Poaching happens all over the world.  For instance, Asia has almost the same amount of poaching as Africa. There are also animals that have become endangered because of poaching.

Why are poachers so violent?

What are poachers thinking when they hurt endangered animals?

How can I help!?

What is red, white, and black, and has fur all over, and is cuter then ever!?

Red pandas, most commonly named Ailurus Fulgens, are so cute! Red pandas are related to the pandas and raccoons, but most people  think they are mostly related to pandas. They also their own group Ailuridee! Red pandas are mammals that sleep most of the day . They are herbivores, and they mostly eat bamboo, roots, and fruits! Red pandas coats are a dusty red with black and white! Their coats are actually for camouflage when they’re up in the trees they are hidden from predators because of the shade of the tree. Red pandas actually have lots adaptations that help them in the wild.  Their greatest one is that their eyes have tear marks that travel to the mouth to protect it eyes from the sun! Another adaptation is its tale. They can protect themselves from the winters by curling up! Their fur is dense, so it is winterproof.

 

 

 

Red pandas live in China, Nepal, and North Myanmar. Red pandas use scent markings to  keep their territories. They use urine and anal glands. the most exiting  thing is that they have markings on their foot pads. The clear liquid is not scented to most humans but most predators can. They test it by using its thick backside of its tongue that takes its glands. Red pandas have something that there ancestors do not have. They are very flexible, and they have thumbs! Their ankles are so flexible. They are even able to climb down head first. Red pandas are not very social. When they are mating they are the most social. Most female Red pandas have four babies. They are born in the summer and the spring. They are taken care of by their mother for ninety days, and will not leave the nest. Even though Red pandas are not the most common endangered animals, but they are a big minority. Red pandas are dealing with  deforestation and and the poaching for their fur! How is this fair? Why are humans not thinking of them? Why do most pandas live in China? How do we help them even though we don’t live near them?

 

 

There’s a fungus among us!  10/11

 

In class we have been learning about mushrooms. We explored the woods and looked for different types of fungi. We drew them in our notebooks and asked three questions about each type of species and the decomposers surrounding it. I really enjoyed getting to draw the mushrooms!

 

My favorite part of this learning experience was that we got to be one with nature. We also made spore prints that were really cool. One thing I learned about mushrooms is that what we see is the fruiting body. Mushrooms spread by microscopic spores that spreads across the ground. Mushrooms can grow really fast. Many mushrooms are edible but some are not. You have to be careful to identify edible mushrooms correctly!

9/27 Mountain Lions!

In class we talked about how the ecosystem with the fire is changing the mountain lion mating cycle. The fires that are burning in California are affecting the lions in the Santa Monica Mountains and the Simi Hills. But the fire didn’t make death, it made life. Five female mountain lions produced thirteen baby cubs over the

Portrait baby cougar, mountain lion or puma

months of May and August of 2020. Female mountain lions live very close to males and will mate, but the estrus period was the most common mating time. The feeling of danger may have made the mountain lions group together and made them mate with each other. The birth of all the cubs was miraculous and grand. They may be animal that kill us, but they give us new things to think about. The first fire was the Wooley fire two years ago, and the mountain lions are still hurt from the loss of landscape. Mountain lions are a rare and an endangered species that need to be thought about. Ecology has a big impact in our lives, and if we don’t think about it, it will all go away. Ms. Shane showed us that some people are thinking of animals and some are thinking of themselves. I’ve learned something very important and that is that ecology is something that everyone should learn and that mountain lions won’t give up.

A mountain lion mother with her cubs.

9/13 the owl letter

 

 

Dear Mrs. Cuttatree,

 

Hoot! I hope this letter finds you well. I want to tell you why you should not cut down my habitat. You see, I am an Athene Cunicularia, better known as a Burrowing Owl. You might recognize me from my small, sandy color or my bright yellow eyes! I am not that big but I have long legs and a short tail. I am about the same size as an American Robin, but with a bigger body.  I measure between 7.5 to 9.8 inches in height. I weigh about 5.3 ounces. My wingspan is 21.6 inches. My head is rounded, and I don’t have ear tufts. Sometimes I use the homes of other animals such as prairie dogs and badgers to make nests. A clutch has about 2-12 eggs in it. I mostly live in grasslands. 

 

I have learned to adapt to my surroundings by having a higher tolerance for carbon dioxide than other birds. This helps when I go underground. We have also been known to survive in artificial habitats. We are also diurnal and hunt both day and night. This is a behavior that has helped us survive. We use dung placed around the entrance to our burrows to capture food.

My species lives from Canada to Mexico and Florida and the Caribbean and in South America. We live in grassy areas and nest in rocky outcroppings and burrows created by humans or wildlife. These grassy areas provide small rodents to eat. We eat what we can find including large invertebrates, birds, and small mammals. We migrate in the northern part of our range and partially in the southern states. We decide each year whether to migrate.

 

If you cut down my habitat, rodents and other mammals would not get eaten and maybe grow to be too many. That would throw off the balance in the food chain. I am a special species that needs to be protected from endangerment. One interesting fact is that males and females are the same size and have amazing hearing and sight to capture prey. 

 

Please do not develop the land we live on. We are an important species that is invaluable to our ecosystem. 

 

Sincerely,

The Burrowing Owl 

 

https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Burrowing_Owl/overview

 

http://naturemappingfoundation.org/natmap/facts/burrowing_owl_k6.html

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