The Three A's

I'm not going to be doing records for this particular post, but I'll continue that later. This post will be about a specific type of animal, three, that is, in which their names all start with the letter A and have related behaviors. These three animals are: the aardvark, the anteater, and the armadillo. First animal is.... the small but lovable aardvark! These animals are native to Africa dwelling in open woodlands and forest as well as wide plains. These are in the Orycteropodidae family and are in a different one than our other two A fellows. One thing a lot of these animals have in common is their diet. These eat termites and ants. Yum! The aardvark eats in style. As you can see in the picture, the aardvark has long flat claws that are sharp enough to break the dirt in termite mounds with. Did I mention that the aardvark has a 12 inch long tongue? Well, it does. Once the termites are out of the nest, ready to be eaten, the creature towering above them lick them up as if they are a popsicle lying on the ground. For those toughie bugs, they got flat, short, pillarlike teeth that only are in the back of its mouth.They gotta bite hard to wear them down, but they're a soft food lover and don't care for crunchy things, which explains why they have big teeth which are'nt covered in white enamel. These things are not too big since they only are 3-5 feet long, yet they can live long; a promising around 20 years. These mate of course, and usually have 1 or 2 young. Their gestation period is 7 months long. Another thing about when they dig is their nostril hairs on their long snouts filter the dust and small insects that are tossed into the air when aardvarks are digging. Ears can be closed as well. Now we are on to the anteater. These strange looking creatures live in tropical woodland and grassland in central and south America. Some smaller ones might find homes in trees. They are in the myrmecophagidae family and eat ants and termites, which explains the name. They have and incredible 2 feet long tongue with sticky saliva and spiny ridges to suck up these little insects. Once the ants are in their mouth, they grind them up with hard bumps in their mouth. To break open the the mounds that house the ants and termites, they break it open (like the aardvark) with their powerful claws and front legs. If a bully comes up to the anteater, it will either swipe at the enemy with its claws or run away with a funny looking gallop. they have long toes that in needs to keep in shape. To do this, it walks with its knuckles tucked inward so they don't scrape the ground. When trying to find some dinner, they use a great sense of smell to detect a treat. They will never actually destroy the nest, because if they don't have time to finish their meal they can get back to it later. They live up to 20 years and have only one baby. They are only 0,5 to 4 feet long. The armadillo has tough plated, scale like body covering that allows it to have a high defense against predators. I actually (for once) don't know to much about this animal. One thing about it is that it can curl up into a ball to protect the soft underside when a predator starts stabbingat it. These animals are mammals, but they tend to don't have much hair, with only exceptions like the hairy armadillo. That's basically all I know. So leave a comment on what is your fave out of these three and what you would like for me to write about next.

By Tessa Sagner

What's Big and Blue, Lives in the Ocean, and Is the Biggest of Their Kind?

The blue whale, of course! This animal is a gentle giant inhabiting the farthest out in our oceans. It carries a record around with itself, which is pretty noticeable with just a glance. The blue whale is the BIGGEST LIVING ANIMAL, having reached about 95 to 100 feet! Not only is the beast the biggest, but also the HEAVIEST. They weigh about 200 hundred tons! It's easily because if you're incredibly big, you gotta be heavy. The last normal record the blue whale has is the LOUDEST ANIMAL. The blue whale's calls can travel up to five miles throughout the ocean. They make sad, eerie noises that animals can hear from miles away. The blue whale has one more record. It's not a record other animals have, like fastest animal or slowest fish or rarest animal. Nothing like that. You'll be surprised. But try to guess. Think about what I've written for the previous records the blue whale has. Here is the answer. THE MOST RECORDS!!!!!!!!!!!!! Yep. That's a record for sure. The most records is an acceptable record. That's four records in all. Would you like to have any of these records? Why or why not? Please write in the comments what you think. Rate the blue whale on a scale of one to ten! I give a solid ten for sure.

Funfact: blue whales weigh 200 tons. Elephants, the largest land animal, only weighs six tons!

By Tessa Sagner

First record of animal kingdom: Tallest bird

For a while, I will be writing all about animal records: what's the best, how much, and which animals hold which records. This will be the first one, which I bet you can guess from the title—I will be writing about the ostrich. Oh, and yes, some animals have negative and positive records in which either are caused from other things that they need for other elements for survival (negative records) or are used for survival themselves (positive records). But like I was saying, the ostrich not only has the record for FASTEST BIRD, but quite a few other records, which by the way are all positive. But since its main record is its great ability of speed, I will talk about that first. The ostrich's speed is created by the two huge, tall feet which are strong and are able to push off the ground, and get even more speed by double toes on each foot, allowing this bird to be capable of speeds 45 mph. This way the ostrich can outrun many African savannah predators, like the well known lion who you have seen before. And speaking of prey, I might as well briefly explain the ostrich's diet. So, ostriches are omnivores, meaning they eat plants as well as small animals, including in the ostrich's diet such as small insects and leaves and grasses as well as the occasional lizard which is a smart diet because all of those things are plentiful in savannas. An other record the ostrich has is the LARGEST EGG of al the birds known. Ostriches usually lay around eight enormous eggs. An ostrich omelet is about equal to 24 chicken egg omelet and a single one can feed a family of four. The last record the ostrich has is in the title— TALLEST BIRD, plus it is also LARGEST, but that goes into tallest. The ostrich can reach heights of up to 8-9 feet tall! That is taller than the height of an average adult, 5-6 feet tall. I'm pretty sure you noticed this, but the ostrich is totally huge— even before it's hatched!

By Tessa Sagner

Protecting the Environment

If you've been reading for a while, you know I have made a post all about poaching, which is one of the worst things in the entire world. But just because people have been killing animals for years, it is not too late to lend a helping hand to the world's wildlife and stop evil poachers. I will explain a few reasons that will help you be able to save Earth's animals. After reading this post, go out and try some things to do to help wildlife. And if you find out some ideas of your own, you can tell me in the comments some other reasons to go out and help our animals, because if you haven't guessed already, I love animals and am willing to do lots of things to help nature. Enough talking. HERE ARE THE REASONS!!!!!!!!!! (Why capital letters?)

1. Smelly factories have been producing a lot of oil, which the workers are careless with. They are so careless that they just let the oil leak into the water where innocent ducks and other aquatic birds peacefully live. This causes the birds to be covered in oil, which damages them so that they can't fly. Of course, the ducks aren't living peacefully now. But luckily, very kind people (like you) are nice enough to spend their time washing these birds till they are sparkling clean and can fly again.

2. Axes are mean. They chop down beautiful trees, which causes two things to go wrong. One of those things are the animals that live in the trees and their homes are being destroyed. Another reason is because trees take in carbon dioxide, which is what we breath out and cars produce, and the amount that cars produce is so much it pollutes the air. Trees take in that carbon dioxide and turn it into oxygen which we breath in. So with fewer trees the air won't be as clean. This causes breathing problems to animals. But we can write letters to people who chop down trees, and also plant more trees as well.

3. Some people go above and beyond and create funds that help save Earth's nature and wildlife. You can support those companies by donating money to them and help our animals live in a safer style.

By Tessa Sagner

Monster of the Deep

We all know that pirates attack giant, make-believe sea creatures, with a zillion arms and legs. The closest thing in real life to this monster is the giant Pacific octopus, the largest octopus currently living. This beast rules the Pacific ocean (in the name) and while waving all eight arms, it feeds upon shellfish such as crabs. I can't really say the color, since it can change colors for camouflage. I gave all the details on camouflage somewhere else. The octopus (its full name is too long) has one main attack: squirting black ink out at its enemies, which blinds the attacker, giving the octopus a chance run and hide. These giants reproduce a lot of eggs, because they do not care for young whatsoever, and the mini giants are helpless at birth, making them an easy target for predators. But the lucky survivor will grow up to be a monster, but don't be afraid because although they look ferocious, they don't harm people. Octopi (tell me in the comments if it's octopuses, not octopi) are pretty much boneless and sometimes drift along the current with little effort to move where they please. It may seem weird that they are boneless, but they are invertebrates, meaning they have an external skeleton (exoskeleton, find out more information from me) or no skeleton at all. They have suction cups on the bottom of their tentacles to help them stick onto slippery rocks so they don't drift away from their destination. If this wasn't enough information to please you, websites and books where I normally look at didn't have much information, which is because octopi are mysterious creatures and we have discovered so little compared to the crazy information we have yet to discover.

By Tessa Sagner

Random Fun Facts

Did you ever think of things that animals can do? Well, if you didn't, here are some weird things you may not know about these creatures' lives that may seem awesome, gross, or just plain out of the ordinary. Let's start at the beginning of the day. What do you do seconds after you wake up? Stretch, of course! Well, did you know that ants stretch when they wake up as well? Well, they do. They stretch all of those six legs of theirs. OK. Next fact. Now that it's summer, many people are going out for a swim. Well, dolphins swim for their whole lives, since they live in water. But they are still mammals, so they need to get up for air. How do they sleep? They simply keep one eye open and the other one closed, which makes it so that half of their brain is resting and the other makes sure they go up for air. Here's one I bet you didn't know. And it involves more swimmers. We're heading all the way to Lake Titicaca in South America. This lake is 12,500 feet (3812 meters) above sea level. At this height, air is very thin. So how does the Lake Titicaca frog survive in its home? It has a weird coat of saggy skin (it looks weird) that lets the frog soak up oxygen through its skin. More skin increases the amount of oxygen it can soak up. It can also do weird "press ups" to let more oxygen flow in the water. LAST FACT. And it's a cool one. The Chinese water dragon lives high in the trees of the rainforest. I guess it likes the view of the water, so it hangs on branches over bodies of water. But if it gets scared or startled, it drops into the pond or lake and swims away. This one is a champion swimmer, since it can stay underwater. Those are all the facts. In the comments, tell me what you think of the facts and these animals.

By Tessa Sagner

Hide And Seek

1,2,3,4,5,6,7,8,9,10, ready or not, here I come! Yes, animals do something in life that is like the popular game, Hide N' Seek, yet they use this for their own survival. What they do is look like their environment, either to be able to capture food without being seen, or to hide from predators to avoid becoming lunch. Many animals have developed features and patterns to look as close as they can to their environment. I'll go over different animals, how they hide, and why do they hide. But first, these ways of playing hide and seek are called camouflage, a rather silly name. The first animal is the ornate wobbegong. It is a predator, meaning it will hide so it can capture its breakfast. Its multicolor pattern on its body lets it blend in perfectly with the shallow, rocky bed that it lies on in tropical waters off Australia and New Guinea. It also has weird "whisker" thingies that hang off its lips, that look like seaweed. Some animals have not only lookalike patterns, but they also have body features that make them "become" their environment. We have more hide and seek champions! Since we're in the ocean, I figured we might as well head on to the beach and meet the ringed plover. Its gray body fits in well will a rocky patch, so soaring predators from above will see a tasty snack (for animals) but think it's a plain rock. It not only does this for itself, but will guard over its young like this. A true hide and seek champion is the leopard flounder, with more multicolor blotches to also blend into the seafloor perfectly, just by lying flat. But what makes this fish great is the fact it can change color to make it look even more like its environment. We've seen many different ways of camouflage, so in the comments write who you think would win a hide and seek match, whether it's that shark, the flounder, or the plover. I'm interested to see your answers!

By Tessa Sagner

Protection On The First Day

Now that two animals have mated and laid eggs or given birth, those male and female animals have to protect their young, so they will survive. Most animals take care of their young or eggs by the time they have arrived, but some animals might lay their eggs in a specific place or leave their young in a special place where they have food and water and are protected from predators. But some animals don't really do anything to help, which might sound strange, but I guess the parents have better things to do other than raising children! M-E-A-N-I-E-S!!!!!!!!!! But anyways, now that I'm done complaining about how mean some animals are, animals that do take care of their young sometimes may build a home such as a nest to protect their young when they are away. For example, the hummingbird will build a nest containing only two eggs out of thingamajigs from plants and animals, such as plant down, feathers, and stems, and are held together by spider silk. The mother will look after the two eggs until the tiny birds hatch, which will leave the nest after three weeks. Sea turtles don't care for their young nor eggs, yet aren't careless with where the eggs are laid. When the mother lays them, she lays a ton of eggs, because usually most of them get killed from predators before they make it to the ocean, so at least one will survive! So, many animals take care of their young, but some don't, which is mean, but I guess they don't. Can you even imagine living with no parents?

Mating And Courtship

Animals need to keep their species going. If an animal dies, but never mates, its species will become extinct. So by mating, animals help their species go on. I will explain a couple ways animals attract mates down below, but here are some basic facts: Male animals usually attract the females, sometimes by looking bright and colorful (otherwise they fight, make calls, et cetera). The reason it's the males is because while the male attracts females, his mate will have to have brownish grayish colors to camouflage herself while she is taking care of and laying her eggs.


The common male toad does an interesting thing to mate. He makes a special call to attract a female, Once she is attracted, the male will grab on tight on her back, showing he's ready. His sticky toe pads will help grab on to her slippery skin.


The Iberian midwife toad (male) doesn't do a mating thing, but he does help with the eggs. He wraps the eggs around his hind legs so they stick on (there are around 50). Once it's been around 3 weeks, the male will dive into the water so when the eggs hatch, the tadpoles will be in water.


Unlike most other animals, female monkeys attract the males. The Sulawesi crested macaque (female) shows off her bright pink bottom. This will ask a male to come mate with her.


With some animals, 2 males about the same strength will battle for a female. With elephants, this can become quite intense. The 2 will lock tusks and battle. Whoever limps aways loses, and with the right reply from a female, the other will get to mate with her.

By Tessa Sagner

Top Favorites

Everybody has got to have a favorite animal, so here I will explain my top 5 favorite animals, and say why. So to get started, number 1 would probably be bees, because they are so important because they help grow many fruits, vegtables, and other foods that you eat. Number 2 might be polar bears, because the way they are able to survive in such cold climates is incredible, and they look amazing as well. For number 3 I would choose lions, because their golden fur looks so pretty in the sunshine. They are also exellent hunters, so that's why they are number 3. Now for number 4, I would choose elephants, because they are awesome looking, and the babies are so cute! I would also pick elephants because they are strong, and have a great memory. They even can recognize themselves in a mirror, too! Last, for number 5 I would pick dolphins, because they are cute, and can do amazing things in the water. They can also recognize themselves in a mirror, and are smart enough to do things like help newborn babies up to the surface for their first breath of air, and other things like that. Please, in the comments say your favorite animals and why too!

By Tessa Sagner

Dinner In The Animal Kingdom

Just like you, animals need to find food to survive, which isn't too easy in the wild. Animals that live near each other and eat the same things usually means competition against the two. This makes it difficult for them to survive. Let's go over a few different areas and see what the animals eat. Polar bears eat seals by breaking the ice. Seals themselves eat penguins and fish, depending on the type. Penguins eat eels and fish that swim in nearby waters. To do this, they make a splash into the ocean. I think we've got the polar reigons covered, so the next stop is the savannah. Out there, hundreds of elephants, antelope, and zebras graze on branches and grass, all around that open area. Meat eaters, of course, don't eat plants—but they do snack on those antalope and zebra by stalking them and then pouncing. These meat eaters include leopards, lions, and cheetahs. Underneath the murky waters, crocodiles eat the same. Over in the rainforest, jaguars eat warthogs and other small creatures. Monkeys eat fruits and nuts, different kinds depending on the type of tree that they live in. In the ocean, sharks eat many other fish that they can find. Octopuses eat shellfish like crabs and clams. I think this journey through the animal kingdom with the strange diets of the animals in it is over, and see if you can think of how different these things are compared to your favorite foods.

Puffin with fish

By Tessa Sagner

Bears, Bears, Bears!

Swash! A bear catches a delicious salmon in its favorite creek for fishing. Bears are exellent fishers and can easily catch their favorite food—can you guess what that is? Yup, you guessed it, salmon. Salmon for breakfast, salmon for lunch, salmon for dinner, don't they get sick of it? Okay, okay, we know they eat salmon, but let's talk about something else, like variety. There are many diferent kinds of bears, many of which are endangered. There is the grizzly bear, the panda bear, the largest, which is the polar bear, the Asiatic black bear, and many more. All of these look different and do different things. I think we know all this stuff, so let's get in to the cool stuff! Panda bears are adorably awesome in my opinion, and they eat tons of stuff called bamboo, which we all know, but here's a fact! Pandas eat diiferent parts of the bamboo during different seasons. Pandas are endangered animals, because people are chopping down bamboo forests where they live. Polar bears are next. We learned earlier that they are largest, which is a fruitless thing to repeat. But they are very strong and eat large animals: seals. Yup, they eat seals and can hunt them in an interesting way. The first step is to break a hole in the ice, then wait for a seal to come out of the water, which they normally do. Once they come out of the water, the polar bear kills the seal and eats it for a healthy dinner. Polar bears are white all over for camouflage, but if they had white skin they would get cold, because white reflects heat, so they have black skin for warmth because black absorbs heat. Bears are beautiful creatures on continents all except Antactica and Africa, and are amazing creatures.

The Sly Crew

Out in the beautiful forest, a small group of foxes gather. Foxes are a canid, a kind of family in the carnivora order. Foxes are known for their slyness and secrets. They are a common sight along the sides of roads and other places, but sadly, most foxes only live for 2 to 3 years because of car accidents. But normally, foxes can live for about 10 years. But of course, the animals need food to suvive. So they eat a wide variety of things, including meat such as rabbits, squirrels, and other rodents. They sometimes munch on insects like grasshoppers. Foxes can also eat berries for a healthy fruit diet. Our canid friends need to hunt to get their food, so they start at a pretty early age. Once giving birth, the amount of pups can vary depending on the species. Now, there are a lot of types of fox-like creatures, about 13. The red fox is the most popular and are very well known. But back to the pups. Red foxes usually have around 4. The weight can very depending on the species and if it's a male or female. Males weigh about 13 pounds, with females weighing 11 pounds. Red foxes have a beautiful coat, and a red bushy tail (also called a brush) marked with a white dab on the end. They are usually smaller than a medium-sized domestic dog. Foxes are known throughout the world and are feared and honored for many reasons.

By Tessa Sagner

Gone Forever

ROAR! An allosaurus roars to let others know this is its own area and they are not welcome. Dinosaurs are extinct, meaning no longer alive. Dinosaurs were amazing reptiles that ruled the Earth from 130 million to 65 million years ago, and all died out from something, but we do not know what that is. Rumors are that a massive meteorite came crashing down, blocking the sun for plants, which some dinosaurs ate, leaving the plant eaters to starve, and leaving nothing for the meat eaters to eat but each other, and they all killed each other. There were two main groups of dinosaur, including the ornithopods and the theropods. The ornithopods included many plant eaters, such as triceratops, and the theropods included many meat eaters like allosaurus. Here are some different dinoaurs that lived way back.

1. Fatty triceratops had a big shield behind its head, and one horn over each eye and its nose. It weighed a ton.

2.Velociraptor was a fast but small killer, and had lots of teeth. It was a short dimosaur.

3. Stegosaurus was a plant eater, with many plates on its back, and its secret weapon was its spiky tail.

4. Apatosaurus was a gentle giant, with a very long neck and tail. Even the babies were huge!

5. Tyrannosaurus rex had massive jaws that could crush bone, and was one of the last dinosaurs to live.

6. Spinosaurus was larger than tyrannosaurus, but it lived much eariier. It was a meat eater and had a huge sail on its back.

Fossils are imprints and buried remains of dinosaurs that were preserved in rock and that people dig up. The name of this person is a paleontologist. Trace fossils are fossilized things related to dinosaurs, such as eggs, coprolites (fossilized dinosaur poop) and footprints.

Just The Right Equipment

Scratch!  A lizard's sharp claws grip tightly to a tree branch, one that is completly vertical! But the lizard lizard can't fall; it has adapted to climbing straight up branches in this forest that it lives in. Other animals have special body parts for the environment that they live in. Also animals can live in habitats with incredible temperatures, which they can some how live in. This lizard's claws allow it to climb the trees that are in its habitat. For temperatures, the polar bear lives in extremely cold places, but its food is here, so it wouldn't be able to survive anywhere else. It has white fur for camouflage, but white reflects heat, so to keep itself warm, polar bears have black skin for absorbing heat. Other animals need their food, which can be in interesting places. So some animals have amazing ways of catching their prey in these environments. For example, bald eagles don't have many places to perch on to catch their fish, so they swoop down into the ocean and sometimes come back up with a tasty fish. Do you think it would be funny to live like this, or would it be normal?

By Tessa Sagner

Poachers

Ever wonder why tigers are so rare? Well, the truth is that poachers, or hunters, kill the animals for their amazing fur coats, which is lowering the population in months. That is why some species are becoming endangered. Not all animals are killed on purpose, but sone animals like pandas are dying out because of habitat loss. People love pandas, yet they don't realize they are chopping down bamboo forests where pandas live and get their food. That is only a few ways some animals are dying out. Poachers hunt animals for sport. They hang up deer and bison heads in their home. Game birds are birds that people eat and hunt. These include pheasants, wild turkeys, and many more. If endangered animals die out they will become extinct. This means they have all died out and are no longer living. Some creatures that are already extinct were hunted, which are animals such as great auks. These lived on glaciers and looked a little like penguins. Tasmanian tigers are extinct too, but they were not tigers, not even wolves (even though they looked like them). Instead they were marsupials, animals with a pouch. People should realize these wrong things that they are doing to the animlas. Luckily, scientists are making conservations and laws to help protect our beloved animals.

By Tessa Sagner

Incredible insects

BBBBBBBZZZZZZZZ! Insects are tiny (sometimes they can be large) creatures. Many people think some of these amazing creatures are disgusting, which I don't. Other people think these creatures are just plain boring, just because they are common. Because of this, people like learning about endangered  species. Most insects have 3 main body parts: The head, the thorax, and the abdomen. The head is the smallest part, containing the jaw parts for eating. They also have something called compound eyes. Each eye has many tiny units, each with a cord leading to the brain. The thorax contains many important external features, like the legs and the wings. There are 4 wings in all, each with a colorful coating, called elytra. This is for protecting the wings, and pushes out of the way when the insect flies. The abdomen has important internal features, like the lungs and heart. Insects can easily be hurt by predators. To protect themselves, insects use interesting camouflage. The orchid mantis looks like the inner parts of an orchid, where it lives. But the orchid mantis does not need to hide from predators, it simply is a predator itself. It has to hide from its prey. Do you think insects are disgusting, or do you agree with me and think they are amazing?

Crazy Things

Throughout the world, some animals have incredible abilities that they can do. They use these abilities for many important uses such as scaring away a predator. The first example of a crazy thing an animal can do is the thorny devil. Not only it is covered in spikes, but this is the only lizard that can shoot bright red blood from its eyes. It uses the spikes to camouflage itself, not to hurt. When it is scared, that's when it squirts blood from the eyes. The predator will be surprised and leave it alone. The red spitting cobra does a similar thing. But it doesn't shoot anything from its eyes, but it does shoot dangerous venom from its teeth. It attacks by shooting this venom out at prey. This will blind the prey, allowing the cobra to more easily kill and eat the prey. These are crazy things, thats for sure!

By Tessa Sagner

Rainforest

SQUAWK! Deep in the rainforest are some parrots communicating to one another about the food they have just found. Around the rainforest are many more animals within each level: the forest floor, the understory, the canopy, and if you are lucky, you may find an emergent tree. There are many types of rainforest. There is the monsoon rainforest. Unlike tropical rainforests, these have a dry season. They also shed leaves year round. These grow in southeast Asia. Montane rainforests are around the Earth, but only grow in mountainous regions. Temperate rainforests grow in northwestern United States and Australia. Tropical rainforests are around the Equator in areas called the tropics. Very hot tropical rainforests can get up to more than 70 inches of rain each year. Rainforests are said to be the environment with the most types, or species of plants and animals. Many of these animals are waiting to be discovered by humans. Not only these things live here, people do too! There are different tribes of people surviving in the rainforest. How would it be to live in the rainforest?

By Tessa Sagner

Some Animals Are Cute And Cuddly,...

...but that still does not mean those animals don't have disgusting habits. For example, the panda is an animal that many people think is cute, but a mommy panda literally drinks the baby's poop. It might sound gross, but it does this to prevent predators from sniffing the baby out. That is only one example of a weird thing that an animal does. Rabbits do another gross thing. Once a day, they produce cecotropes. These are soft, shiny pellets containing partially digested food. Once the rabbit produces them, it eats them. As they travel through the gut, the grass that rabbits eat is tough to digest, so eating the cecotropes gives them a second chance to break down the grass and absorb nutrients. Then the rabbit produces a second set of droppings that it doesn't eat. Goats have an interesting way of finding a mate. The male rubs his face and beard in his pee. Then he goes up to the female that interests him the most. The female likes it! She pees too and the buck smells it. If he likes it, he curls up his upper lip and they are a couple. Okay, you want slime now? The hagfish is a funny looking fish. If it sees a predator, it pours mucus out of its body. This clogs the predator's gills. As it struggles to get away, the hagfish has time to escape. Although these habits seem gross to you, they are very important to the animals' survival. That is why you should never make fun of it. For example, is the goat doesn't do what it does, it won't be able to reproduce and pass on its genus.

By Tessa Sagner

Environments

Swish! The ocean's waves tumble on to a beach. Farther out the wind blows the savannah grass to the east. In a dense rainforest nearby the stillness is broken by the screeches of monkeys and the squawks of birds. Around the world there are many different types of environments that suit animals in that area. For example, the grassland is for the zebra because it finds its food there. Some environments are the ocean, the grassland, the rainforest, the forest, freshwaters, prairies, savannas, deserts, and beaches. Some of these places are very colorful, like the rainforest. Others are very bare for miles, like the desert. The ocean has many lairs to it, as well as the rainforest. The bottom part of the rainforest is the forest floor. This lair contains many mammals like the tapir. It also has jaguars on the floor as well in the understory. The understory has not very many animals, but it can contain snakes and bugs. All the other lairs have many bugs in them. Next is the canopy, which has sunlight unlike the lairs before it. This lair has monkeys and birds. But in every area of rainforest, you have a chance of finding an emergent tree. These trees are very tall and also have birds and monkeys. The lairs of the ocean are the splash zone, the sunlight zone, the twilight zone, the dark zone, and the hydrothermal vents. The deepest point in any of the oceans is the Marianas Trench. How would it be to live down there?

By Tessa Sagner

Classification

Classification is easier than it is if you think of it as an upside down pyramid. Animals are grouped into categories depending on their similarities. The largest group is a kingdom, which would contain all of the animals in the Earth. Next is a phylum, which in this case, would be chordata. These are vertebrates. There are many others like echodermata, arthropoda, and many others. The next group would be class, which for now is mammalia. There are many others, again. Next is order, which in this case is carnivora. There are more. Next is family which now is felidae. Next is genus. For this particular animal, it is panthera. Last is species, which is the smallest group and is now leo. This animal is the lion. Its scientific name is panthera leo, which was part of the classification.

By Tessa Sagner

The Parrot Family

Crack! A parrot cracks a large piece of fruit for its breakfast. Its strong beak can crack open tough fruits that it eats. Unlike other birds, parrots have a funny shape for their bill. Its top is like the top quarter of a circle. the bottom has a flat top and a long, curvy bottom half. This beak is made especially for cracking fruits that it eats. Parrots live mostly in rainforests and jungles. They live high in the canopy of the rainforest and the emergent trees. To grasp hold of branches, they have 2 toes pointing forward and 2 backwards. Parrots are known for being colorful birds that can sometimes talk. Parrots are able to talk because they are the only birds with tongues. Besides parrots there are lorikeets, cockatoos, cockatiels, macaws, and many more. They like to squawk and screech. Parrots are becoming endangered and disappearing because of habitat loss and people are selling rare ones for pets which in some places is not legal for ones that will become extinct soon. Parrots eat seeds, fruit, and other plants that grow in the rainforest. Parrots live in Africa, South America, and Asia. If the rainforests in those continents are cut down, there will be no wonderful parrots for us look at and enjoy. People must learn to take good care of our rainforest to save these wonderful animals.

By Tessa Sagner

Echidnas

RRRRR! A Tasmanian devil is stalking an echidna. When it reaches out to scratch, it gets something it didn't expect. A sharp, prickly spine is caught in the paw of the Tasmanian devil. It slowly limps away, surprised by the secret weapon of the echidna. Echidnas are also called Australian spiny anteaters because of their long spines and long snout like an anteater's. They explore termite mounds and when it's hungry, it digs in the round for termites to eat. It is okay if an echidna can't find food because they can go without food for a whole month! Echidnas are solitary animals and only get together when mating. Mating is a whole new story. Before mating, a  female echidna develops a flap of skin like a kangaroo's pouch. It takes a couple weeks  but eventually a 1 inch egg is laid. Echidnas are one of the only mammals that lay eggs. The female rolls up in a special way so the eggs fall into the pouch. After 10 or 11 days the eggs hatch. To break out of their shell, newborn echidnas have a special tooth called an egg tooth. After breaking out of the egg, soon the egg tooth falls out. After the baby hatches it stays in the pouch for almost 2 months. At this stage they nurse the mother from nice milk that flows through Mommy echidna's skin. After 2 more months the echidna is fully developed. Although it is a normal baby, it is only 6 to 8 inches. Now it is ready to leave Mommy's pouch. But Mommy still nurses it for about 4 to 5 months when baby stays close to her side. But when echidnas are solitary they sleep during the day in burrows or logs under dense bushes. Echidnas are definitely on the list of my top ten strangest animals. What do you think it would be like to have 2 inch long quills along your back?

By Tessa Sagner

Giraffe

Whew! It's blazing hot in the African savannah and a herd of giraffes is traveling to the water hole. After a mother gets a drink of her own, she nurses a month old calf. Within minutes of being born, a giraffe can stand up on spindly legs and soon walk. Giraffes are known for being incredibly tall with spots all over them. A giraffe's average height is about 16 feet but they can be 18 feet tall! A baby giraffe is about 6 feet tall. Giraffes are herbivores and eat leaves on trees. A giraffe is lucky if it finds a large tree because there are not many trees in the savannah in which they live in. Giraffes don't have a lot of predators because their height is so tall, but occasionally lions attack shorter young giraffes. There are many types of giraffes that live throughout Africa. Depending on the type of giraffe, giraffes have different kinds of spots. Although giraffes all have brown splotches, no two giraffes spots are exactly the same. Giraffes are very well known animals and gaze down on the enormous savannah and all the animals in it. Giraffes are great animals of the savannah and should never be harmed or hunted because of their beauty.

By Tessa Sagner

Exoskeleton

Imagine you are a little blue starfish. There are many dangers throughout the ocean in which you live. To prevent being harmed, a starfish has a tough outer covering called an exoskeleton. An exoskeleton replaces an internal skeleton. Not just starfish have an exoskeleton. Many invertebrates have exoskeletons too. Exoskeletons protect the owner because they can be to hard for a predator like a bird to break. But a spider can break the exoskeleton and suck up the soft parts of the prey. But some invertebrates don't have an exoskeleton. Squids don't meet animals powerful enough to harm them that often so they don't have an exoskeleton. Only invertebrates can have an exoskeleton because vertebrates already have an internal skeleton. What do you think it would be like to have an exoskeleton?

                                             By Tessa Sagner

Crocodiles

A couple of wildebeest are heading to the water hole for a drink. The first bends down low to sip but it made a big mistake! SPLASH! A huge crocodile ruins the stillness around the water hole. It slashes its jaws at the surprised herd. It drags in a teenage wildebeest. The others escape. Crocodiles are very fierce hunters being able to catch adult wildebeest. This one has only a teenager but next hunt it should be much more successful. If a crocodile does catch an adult it could be so meaty that the crocodile might not have to eat for a month! Crocodiles are huge predators and sometimes they can kill people. They are large reptiles armored in thick, tough scales. They have incredibly massive jaws to lock prey in. After it finds a antelope, a wildebeest, or a zebra, it waits under the water with only its eyes and nostrils sticking above the water. It hides its eyes because they are on the side of the head. The prey should not see the "log" as a crocodile. and go on with drinking. But the prey made a mistake! The crocodile lunges at the prey and turns it underwater. As soon as the prey drowns, the crocodile eats the prey. Although it has many teeth it cannot chew. Instead it uses teeth to tear meat into bite-sized chunks. Then it swallows the chunks whole. Crocodiles don't just live in Africa. They live around the earth in jungles and forests.

By Tessa Sagner

Elephants

Out on the far savannah, bare of many trees, is a herd of lots of African elephants. This massive, well loved creature is know for its extremely long trunk which it uses to suck up water. It also uses its trunk to grab hold of branches that it eats as well clean itself sometimes. To do this it sucks up a lot of water and sprays it all over itself like a shower. Under that enormous trunk are two long tusks which it uses to fight other predators. Although elephants are herbivores they are very dangerous to other animals like leopards and lions. They eat grasses and branches around the savannah or forest in which they live in. Male elephants love to show off their strength by fighting for a mate. They latch tusks and whoever limps away first will not get the female to breed with. When it is time to give birth the female elephant has about one calf at a time. The elephant is the second longest living mammal besides humans. Some elephants can be sixty years old! Elephants are also known for being massive because they weigh about six tons! They are the largest living animal on land. That does not include the blue whale. Even being six tons still won't mean an elephant would not look like a baby compared to a dinosaur! The African elephant is larger than the Indian elephant which has smaller ears and a more boxy body shape.

Jellyfish

Swish! A little bit of a jellyfish is washed from the twilight zone to the splash zone. Deep down in the sea are a lot more jellyfish friends. They are shaped liked an umbrella with a floppy top with underneath a lot of poisonous stinging tentacles hanging under the umbrella like bells.  A jellyfish cannot swim and control itself because that floppy top does not have a brain! But that still does not mean a jellyfish won't need to eat. It hovers above its  prey and prey will get caught in the stinging tentacles and die. A jellyfish moves around by the waves and current. The most dangerous jellyfish is the box jellyfish. It can kill many adults in less than 4 minutes! As well as being extremely dangerous, the box jellyfish is longer than an average adult man! But don't worry! You would not normally see box jellyfish in the the wild since they live in deeper zones of the ocean. I think jellyfish are truly amazing creatures, and the oceans would seem so empty without them.

By Tessa Sagner