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?