Otters

Otters are otterly amazing animals. I chose Otters for my post because they are super fascinating. I always thought that otters were always in water, but actually they spend more time on land, being in water is just a stereotype. Otters live in freshwater habitats, such as lakes, rivers, and ponds. But there are sea otters too, living off the coast of the Northern Pacific, in shallow waters. Otters are carnivores, their main food source being fish. Otters were around over 4 million years ago. If you had to guess who was related to otters, you may guess the beaver because they both swim, and you would be wrong. They are actually related to badgers, ferrets, and minks. Otter’s tales are surprisingly long, about one third of their body length. Otters tend to live to around ten years old, but much longer in captivity. Otters are very skilled creatures. One of the cool things they make are their own dens just like beavers, also they have special vision that makes them able to see very small food sources that other organisms may not be able to see because they have very tiny eyes. You may not think this, but it is true. Otters are super fantastic, and I loved studying them! By now you should all love otters! To find out more info, go to Otter-world.com. To see an adorable video of a orphaned sea otter pup go to https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=NWxYDKXJV2c. (by Violet)

Turtles Have Built in Compasses

Would you believe me if I told you that turtles have built in compasses? Well they do. It leads them to their place of birth. They also reproduce at their home beach. Turtles rely on Earth's magnetic field. Scientists believe that turtles track their home turf’s magnets. Each hatchling registers their home’s unique magnetic coordinate. When they leave, they follow ocean currents to different regions. When they are ready to reproduce, they automatically go home and lay their eggs there. This is called geomagnetic imprinting, which means absorbing the magnetic fields shortly after their birth. I think this relates to our science class because we were studying water animals and this is a cool fact about an ocean reptile. I found all of this here. Check out the turtle video at this website! (By Sofia)

Project for Pond Ecology Unit

Recently in my science class, we have started doing projects for our Pond Ecology unit. We have been learning about pond ecology since the beginning of the school year. The projects include information for three organisms we have been learning about in our previous classes. The three organisms are Daphnia, Hydra and Planaria. Our class got the choice of telling story in iMovie or some other resource, or make a Venn diagram to compare all three organisms. If you chose to tell a story, you had to choose between one of the three organisms, and tell a story about them. You can make the story up, but the facts need to be true. If you chose to do a Venn diagram, you have 3 circles instead of 2. Each organism has it’s own circle. In the organisms circle, you only write about facts about the organism only. If you bump into a cross over section, you write facts about what the two organisms have in common. There is one section where you have to write facts about all three organisms and what they have in common. You will also create your Venn diagram in Thinglink to make your project interactive. Here is my Thinglink.

I chose the Venn diagram because I thought it would be cool to not just only write facts down about the three organisms that we have learned about, but to learn more about them than I did before the project started. My favorite part of the process is actually making the Venn diagram on Thinglink because it is nice the way the app lets you layout your projects, or presentations or anything you are doing freely. Here is my Thinglink that I made on the three organisms my class has been studying about. (by Cece)

All About the Hydra

We learned about the Hydra in science class. Hydra is carnivore. The Hydra has stinging cells called nematocysts. The hydra can't see or hear, the only way it can catch its prey is if the prey bumps into it. Then it will grab its prey quickly and paralyze it using its stinging cells. When it becomes paralyzed the hydra uses its tentacles  to push the prey into its mouth. A food chain involving the hydra is Algae~Daphnia~Hydra. The hydra eats  Daphnia and other cyclops. The hydra is a relative to the jelly fish species. The hydra lives in ponds and sticks on objects underwater. That's the facts I know to the hydra! (by Sakaria)

Here is a video I made while looking at a hydra through a microscope.

Water Bears

Did you know that there is an organism that can survive in most environments? It’s called the water bear. The scientific name is Tardigrade and it means slow walker in Latin. They can survive the coldest antarctic ice, hot springs, deep sea trenches, Himalayan mountain tops and much much more.  Water bears are translucent with a hint of taupe-ish brown color.  They are 1/16th of an inch long, have eight legs with claws, and a snout.  Scientists have proven that water bears can go to space and come back unharmed and reproduce as well in space. Water bears can slow down their metabolism, lose most of their water and curl up into a state called “tun”, when they are dry or salty. Tuns can handle 600 times the atmospheric pressure of Earth. Also tuns can be frozen for more than a year, at 300 degrees below zero.  If you add water to a tun it can turn back into a Tardigrade. Tuns have been brought back to life after a century and still look the same as it did before. Water bears are super cool and there is so much to learn about. (By Lolie)

I got my information from this article. Be sure to check it out!

Smart Elephants

If I told you to name a very intelligent animal you would probably say something like a dolphin, but you wouldn't think of an elephant. Well guess what? It's true, elephants are some of the most intelligent animals in the world.They can throw sticks and rocks at electrical fences to shorten the power, they can block water holes with bark to drive other animals away from the water, and they can even swat the bugs away with branches. Elephants can figure all of this out because they have the biggest brain of all land animals in the world. I chose this topic because I thought it was very interesting because I never knew elephants were so smart. If you want to read more about this, click here. (by Russell)



http://www.eonline.com/news/529865/18-videos-that-prove-baby-elephants-are-the-cutest-baby-animals-ever

Hummingbirds

Did you know that hummingbirds are among the smallest birds in the world. The hummingbird brain is about 4.2% of its body weight and the heart is about 2.5% of its body weight. The heart beats about 1,260 times per minute and about 250 times when resting. The hummingbirds average body temperature is 107° Fahrenheit! It's wings beat 70 times per second and 200 times when diving. Hummingbirds connect to our class because we have been studying about amazing organisms in class. I chose this topic because they have so many special adaptations and not a lot of organisms can survive without adaptations. Not to mention that they have a lot more characteristics than normal birds. Hummingbirds are some of the most fascinating birds in the world. What do you think the world would be like without hummingbirds? For more information, visit worldofhummingbirds.com and click on the green icon at the top that says “Facts”.  (By Ian)

Rock Snot

Have you ever heard about rock snot? If you have then you know how disgusting it is. Now, I  can imagine your puzzlement. Where did this thing come from, how come I've never heard of it? Well here's why. This is Didymosphenia geminata, known as rock snot, or didymo for short. It's not harmful to humans, thankfully. What it does is that it takes up space and it kills off smaller organisms in rivers which could collapse the entire ecological system. It also plugs drainage pipes and when it gets to the dams in rivers it clogs them up which can cause damage. The thing is that humans caused this huge explosion of algae, with the help from a little phosphorus. Although it is not actually an invasive species anywhere (except for New Zealand), what I am trying to say is that this is real and it’s bad. (by Elijah)

Sources: BBC and Muse Magazine
http://www.bbc.com/earth/story/20140922-green-snot-takes-over-worlds-rivers

Invasive Plants

Did you know that Falmouth, Maine has been dealing with invasive plants? First of all if you don't know what invasive means, it basically means that the organism was accidentally introduced into the place they ended up and they started a problem. The opposite of invasive is native and native means they are from that habitat. There are some people in Falmouth, Maine dealing with some plants that are invasive. They have very extensive infestations from knotweed. I wonder how they are handling this situation? It is probably a lot of work. Professionals will probably be needed. (by Bella R)

This is the link I used for my information:

http://www.theforecaster.net/falmouth-spends-less-than-planned-to-stem-invasive-plants/

Land Hermit Crabs

Ouch! Watch your fingers! These crustaceans can be defensive if you don't treat them well. The Hermit Crab is an interesting animal. It has one big claw and a small one; it drags the big claw around because it's too heavy for the crab to hold up. They drag it around like an injured leg! Usually the big claw is colored purple or blue. They can eat mostly fruits, vegetables and little pellets of compacted food. I usually feed my Hermit Crabs pellets and vegetables to keep them healthy. A Hermit Crab’s life span is about 30 to 70 years in its own habitat; that's a long time for a little crustacean. But after being removed from its habitat and put in captivity it only lives for up to about a year. Hermit Crabs in captivity actually die slowly from suffocation because their modified gills require high humidity in order to breathe. Hermit Crabs need lots of friends for climbing, foraging and exploring. That's why I have two Hermit Crabs named Acadia and Baxter. Click here for a video to see how they move around. (By Joe)

How does your body react when you’re scared?

For my blog post I wanted to look at current events. My question is how does your body react when it is scared? I thought there was no better time because Halloween just happened. According to Dr. Robert Glatter who is an emergency physician at the Lenox Hill Hospital many things happen. When your body is scared it goes into something called fight or flight response. That was helpful a long time ago when there were bears chasing cavemen. But unless something like that is happening to you it is not that helpful. When you are scared adrenaline rushes into your body, which comes from your Autonomic Nervous System. Adrenaline is a hormone that makes your body react differently when you are scared. That can lead to a rapid heartbeat, dilated pupils, and blood flow to muscles like your heart. Adrenaline also triggers calcium. Calcium also rushes to the heart and makes it contract. (by Maeve)

Here is my source of information: 

http://www.livescience.com/52573-can-you-die-of-fright.html

Leaf Litter Frogs

Can you name an animal that plays dead? You probably said opossum, and you're correct. But have you ever heard that a frog plays dead? They do, the leaf litter frog plays dead to protect themselves from predators. The leaf litter frog plays dead by flipping on their back, shutting their eyes, and throw their arms and legs all the way back. They stay on their backs for about two minutes. This article inspired me to write about frogs playing dead. In my science class we were studying frogs, that is why I chose this topic. Click here to read the article I read. (by Ed)

Soft vs Hard Shell Maine Lobsters

Many lobsters are affected by the ocean waters. Water temperature plays a role in lobsters' movement because when it is cold, lobsters do not move much to feed. In 2012 and 2013 the ocean was warmer because of mild winters. There were a lot of lobsters and they shed their shells early in this season because of the warmer water. This means they molted their shells. Young lobsters molt five times a year and older lobsters molt once a year. Soft shell lobsters are lower in price. The winters of 2014 and 2015 were very cold. The ocean water was very cold and the lobster prices went up because the shells were hard. Lobsterman were making more money in 2014 and 2015. Weather impacts Maine lobsters. I chose this topic because I wanted to learn more about lobsters.

                                          red bands is soft shell and  blue bands is hard shell

Even though the picture does not show a difference in appearance, the soft shell lobster has a paper thin shell. It weighs less. (by Tim)

Source: www.pressherald.com/2012/06/19/whats-in-a-name-its-soft-shell

South Carolina Ant Raft

In South Carolina there was recently a flood and in order to save themselves the fire ants built an ant raft. When the water starts to flood, worker ants link together with their legs and mouths to form the base of the raft. The process can take less than two minutes. Then the ants move the queen and larvae on to the center of the raft where they can stay safe and dry. The ant raft can survive for several weeks if not eaten by fish and other sea creatures first. If too many of the ants get eaten the raft will collapse and the ants will not survive. Also if the ants do not reach land they will not survive. I chose this topic because I thought it was really interesting to see how that species survives. (by Jesse)

Please click here to watch a video about the ant raft. 

Going Bananas!

I was talking with my babysitter, and we thought about many different things to write about for my blog post, and then she remembered a podcast she listened to that talked about the commonly eaten cavendish banana, and how this particular type of banana may be going extinct because of a disease called the Panama disease. The cavendish banana was actually chosen to be our main banana, because it was thought to actually be resistant to the Panama disease. Now, this fungus hasn't hit any of the Americas yet but it is on its way and it's only a matter of possibly 5-10 years until it could maybe even wipe out the cavendish species itself. There are only two ways to figure out this problem. We either find a different species that we can adjust to, meaning we adjust to a different taste, size, and possibly color of banana, or we find a cure for the Panama disease. Frankly I don't think we can find a cure seeing that they have been trying for over five years.

This sounds pretty bad right? Well it gets worse. There are over 1,000 different types of bananas around the world. At the moment though there is no replacement for the cavendish banana because out of the 1,000s of bananas, we would have to find a better way to ship them, and a faster way or else the banana would go bad on it's trip, and become very bruised. The cavendish particularly though, is the only banana species that is suited for shipment because of its tough skin. The banana also ripens at the correct rate for shipping well.

Will we be saying goodbye to our most beloved fruit?

Click here and here to listen to two different podcasts about this topic. (by Cat)

The Slippery and Slimy Snail

Humans in France eat snails. The dish is called Escargot (es-cargo because you don't pronounce the t). Sometimes it is served in fancy restaurants in the U.S.A and other places in the world. Sometimes items in facial creams are made by snails.  Some of the different snails are the apple snail, Malaysian trumpet snail, Sulawesi snail, and the pond snail (the one we caught). Snails are very slow and live basically everywhere in the world! This topic was important to me because it is not a common topic. This is related to science because snails are living animals, and we are working on living animals/plants. We collected snails at the pond and I thought that I should give a chance to snails so that caused me to pick snails for the Vital Signs project. Have you ever seen a larger sized snail? Here is the picture of the pond snail (taken by Lolie). Click here to go toa website to learn more facts about snails. (by Greta)

Source: http://www.planetinverts.com/snail_species.html

The day we went to the pond at Evergreen Cemetery, we were very successful in our findings. We set many records, one being catching the most fish. The previous record was four or five but this year we caught many more than that. We caught seven or eight fish! Many were small, three quarters of an inch or less, but we did catch a fish that was about one and a quarter inches! We found many snails, frogs, insects, and more. My group, Tim, Jake, and I, caught a frog and named it Fred. From then on all the labs that we did we named our bugs, frogs, fish, snails or whatever we did a lab on. My group named them Fred or Fred junior and there was even a Fred senior. The first lab we did was our frog lab. My group tried to find Fred although there happened to be six or seven other frogs that looked exactly like Fred. My second lab was a predaceous diving beetle of some kind and we named him Fred junior. My third and final lab was of a bridle shiner, which is a fish. It was about three quarters of an inch and we named it Fred senior. Everyone's labs in sixth grade will be used to upload the information about the organisms to a website called Vital Signs. It's run by the Gulf of Maine Research Institute. Experts at the gulf of Maine research institute will be in touch with us about what we found. We are considered to be citizen scientists but our answers are very helpful to the experts. And they now can save a field trip to the Evergreen Cemetery ponds because we asked the question for them, what lives in the Evergreen Cemetery ponds! (by Henry W.)

First Lab

Yesterday our science class did our first lab. We had recently gone to the Evergreen Cemetery to collect organisms and plants so that we could look at and study them. We got to take a frog out of the tank and put it in a smaller one. so that we could look at it more closely. Then we looked very closely at it and drew it. After that we wrote five observations about what it looked like. The third step was to take a clear focused picture with our iPads. Finally we looked in a field guide to figure out what kind of frog our table was looking at.The frog at our table was a bullfrog. I chose this topic because I had a lot of fun doing this lab. (by Julia W)

      

The Frogs

In science class we have been studying pond ecology, we went to a pond and collected all sorts of life including frogs, insects, tadpoles, fish and lots of other specimens.

After we got back to school we put all the organisms into a tank. We observed them and made sketches of the frogs.

Once we had finished the sketches we had to take scientific photos of the frogs and then write a few descriptive sentences on the frog we were observing. After that we had to identify the kind of frog we were sketching, observing and taking pictures of. Mine was the green frog.

Our class was told that we would be able to look at the different animals under a microscope.

I think it will be really fun to do that and really fascinating as well.

I really wanted to write about this topic because I thought it was really fun going to the pond to collect the animals and then take them back to the classroom to study and write about.

My one question is did anyone else get a different frog other than the green frog?

I really want to know because I think all the frogs in the tank are green frogs. (By Nathan)

Last Week of School Projects

On our last week of school, we have been studying plants and plant reproduction. This week, we have been working on two projects. One is an adaptation project in which we make a slideshow explaining what the adaptation is without giving any facts to our classmates. Our second project is the "Fast Plant Journal", in which we planted Wisconsin Fast Plants with two other people in our group. The journal part is when we write about the plant in journal format. We are almost done making the slideshows and the plants that we planted are looking fantastic! (by Nahum)

Click here to see our slideshow about the parasitic plants and their adaptations.

Wisconsin Fast Plants

In school we have been growing some Wisconsin Fast Plants. But before all of this we had to make what we were going to put the seeds in. So we broke up into groups of two-five people and set to work. What we needed was a one or a two liter bottle, the bottle cap, a wick, and scissors. The first thing that we did was cut the bottle one centimeter below the shoulder. The second step was to poke a hole in the bottle cap, so we could thread the wick through it. After we had done this we put the wick in the cap and screwed the cap on. In the bottom section of the bottle we put water and the top we put soil, and then with the cap facing downwards we put the top inside the bottom making sure that the wick is in both sides evenly. After all this we placed four seeds in the top layer of dirt, hence the name of these plant they grew very quickly and since the first day of this each group has been keeping a journal of what the plants are up too.  (by Alex V.)

Fast Plants

Have you ever heard of a fast plant? Well in A block science class we are learning about plants and the reproduction of plants. Since we are learning about plants, Lisa has decided that we grow our own plants. The plants that we are growing are called fast plants, they grow unusually fast. The scientific name for a fast plant is Brassica rapa. The are related to the crucifer family of plants; cabbage, turnips and broccoli. These plants take about 27-29 days to take on their full form. These plants have been bred for over 30 years at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. (by Ellie)

Mantis shrimp

Shrimp are commonly thought to be small defenseless herbivores, but among these creatures is a viciously powerful carnivore with enough force to easily punch a quarter inch thick glass. They are called mantis shrimp. They eat fish, crabs and other shrimp. To get through their hard shell mantis shrimp have a extraordinary ability to literally punch straight through things. This is a feat that can not be accomplished with muscle alone. The mantis shrimp's arm has a special piece of shell that can bend and then spring forward like a spring loaded machine. At the end of the arm is a club like structure that can fold outwards into a spiked claw. The mantis shrimps motion is the fastest punch in the world, moving at forty-five mph. Click here to watch a video about the mantis shrimp. (by Egan)

Octopus can see with their skin?

A new study has shown that octopi can see with their skin (or at least sense light). This was discovered when the same pigment found in eyes was found in octopus skin. From there two biologists Desmond Ramirez and Todd Oakley from The University of California put patches of octopus skin in Petri dishes with an insect pin. They then started emitting wavelengths of light into the skin. It was found that the skin reacts to continuous bright white light by expanding very quickly and pulsating rhythmically. It was later seen that when exposed to red light it caused slow rhythmic muscle contractions. I find this really interesting because first these octopi can change colors and now they can see with their skin!? Also if you want the whole article click here. (by Trip)

Cloning a Mammoth

Has it ever occurred to you to try to de-extinct an animal? Well it occurred to a few scientists to bring mammoths back. We think that dinosaurs are gone, so we can not clone them; but mammoths, well we'll see.. So first a couple of scientists got together and started to find bones and hairs of animal species that have gone extinct, in particular the mammoth. Then they got DNA samples from these products, trying to figure out why these animals had gone extinct. These scientists really want to clone a mammoth but is it really possible? We know that the mammoth's closest living relative is the Asian elephant, and they are practically 99% similar. So what makes mammoths look like mammoths and elephants look like elephants, what is that 1% difference? Well another scientist has now tried taking parts of the Asian elephant and replacing them with parts of the mammoth, scary right? So anyway, if scientists really do find that 1% difference between the Asian elephants and the mammoths then maybe they could clone a mammoth, but who knows! Here is a podcast with a lot more information! (By Semma)

Fast Plants

This week we have started the plant and plant reproduction unit in science. We started out the class on Monday by planting Fast Plant seeds in the soil in a 1 liter bottle that we cut in half. We watered it by taking the bottom of the bottle and putting water in it then attaching a cotton tube from the bottom of the water to the top of the soil.  I think this is really cool because the water is going up the tube to give water to the plant. I also really like this project because we get to see how the Fast Plant grows and changes as it becomes a bigger plant. (By Morgan)

Atlantis Salamanders

When I was in Atlantis, a city in the Bahamas, I found an incredible animal called the salamander. I've got video containing an adaptation that it uses to warn off predators. It turns its mouth orange and it has flaps wing like structures out at you. I was a little shocked at first when I saw this but I did some research and found out why the salamander did this when I got up close. It does this to ward off any predators that come to a dangerous distance. Clearly the salamander saw me as a threat to it. This connects to our unit because we did a unit on animal behavior. (by Patrick)

There are lots of tiny organisms in the world, probably more than humans. So the earth would have its fair share of things that would make your skin crawl. And then there are some that can fail vital organs, and some of these are parasites. I thought because we studied the hydra and planaria it would be fun to give people nightm-- I mean do research on this topic. An interesting parasite is the threadworm (Strongyloides) and an other organism, the water bear.

The threadworm most commonly infects its host by larvae infected soil. Some symptoms are: abdominal pain, bloating, heartburn, intermittent episodes of diarrhea and constipation, a dry cough, and rashes. Rarely people will develop arthritis, kidney problems, and heart conditions. Click here to read more about this parasite.

The water bear is not exactly invincible or a parasite but probably can survive the end of the world.This is the water bear (tardigrades). The water bear is a microscopic organism that can survive the extreme heat and cold, radiation, and the vacuum of space. And to top it all off, they live for 200 years... So expect to (not) see this creature around. How studies were done is they sent the FOTON-M3 (a rocket) to space with some water bears and 68 percent of the bears lived! Also some water bears have been found under a rock where there hasn't been any water in 25 years. So, what gives you the heebie jeebies? (by Griffin)

The Western Grebe

This is the Aechmophorus occidentalis, or more better known as the western grebe. A water-bird, it has the rare ability to be able to run on the surface of water. It is the largest animal to have acquired the skill of being able to run on water. They can be found in sizable saltwater and freshwater bays or lakes. This bird also uses its skill of running on water for mating and courtship purposes. As a courtship behavior, it will do something called "rushing" where they tuck back their wings, rise, and run on the water for a good 8 seconds and covers plenty of meters. (By Ben T)

Click this link to see a video of a western grebe running on water

2-3 eBOOK SHARE

In 6th grade science class, we made eBooks for a special animal that we were assigned. My animal was the warthog. Some interesting facts about them are: they can weigh up to 120-250 pounds! They live in Africa, southern Sudan and southeast Ethiopia. Their tusks grow to 10 inches long, and they live up to 15-17 years.

We brought these eBook presentations to the 2/3 class. We read our books to the 2/3-ers, and asked them about their IPs. We would switch buddy's after we were done reading. I really enjoyed it because I've never been in the 2-3, 4-5 class areas. It was very interesting how they had all that set up and programmed. It was very fun, and the 2-3ers were respectful and eager to listen to our books. (by Cody)

6th grade visits 4/5 to share animal behavior eBooks

Over the past few weeks the sixth graders have been researching a certain animal for an  Animal Behavior eBook. My animal was the blue-footed booby or Sula nebouxii. Did you know that the blue footed booby has a wingspan of almost 5 feet? Click on the link below to learn about the amazing blue-footed booby.

After a long month working on our Animal behavior eBook, we went to share them with the 4th and 5th graders this week. We all were paired up with two or three 4/5 students. It was also interesting hearing about all the IPs that the 4/5 students had made. I thought it was really fun today sharing all of our hard work and them sharing theirs with us. I hope in the future that we could learn more about all their awesome IPs.  Thank you to the 4/5 students for bringing us over to share. (By Scout)

 http://youtu.be/ilNcnp8vmJY

6th grade science students visit 2/3

6th graders visited the 2/3 homestations this week to share the eBooks they made during the Animal Behavior unit in science class. It was a wonderful experience because not only did 6th graders share their hard work, the 2/3 students reciprocated by sharing their recent IPs. We hope to connect with them again before the end of the year. Thanks for hosting us Down Under!

Global warming

Little does the human mind think about the careless acts we do to increase global warming. Global warming is the term used to illustrate the slow increase in the standard temperature of the earth's ocean and its atmosphere, and a change in Earth's climate. The earth's average temperature has increased substantially by between 0.4 and 0.8 degree Celsius over 100 years. Most of our global warming issues are due to the rising of carbon dioxide and other gases like burning fossil fuels, land clearing, agriculture, as well as other human activities, not just that, but it is also displacing people from cities and tropical islands forcing them to immigrate to higher grounds. Scientists believe at the rate of global warming today, that we could produce between 1.4 and 5.8 degree Celsius by the twenty-second century. The rising sea levels, melting polar ice caps, and the increase of storms and other severe weather events will occur if you forget to keep your mind on our world's health, help the fight and make a stand against global warming! (by Harry)

Here's an interesting video about global warming
 http://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/101-videos/global-warming-101

ANIMAL EXTINCTION

My blog is about animal conservation. Every day animals disappear due to habitat loss. A bit more than 21% mammals, about 12% birds, 28% reptiles, and 30% amphibians, grow closer and closer to total extinction. There are CCSS (Conservation Centers for Species Survival.). They're trying to reduce the problem of extinction. This topic relates to our science class because of animal behavior. The reason is because animals all over the world are trying to survive and reproduce even with OUR scourge of habitat loss that we've plagued upon them. But you can help. I wrote this because I really don't want all animals to go extinct and I wanted to make this problem realized. What about you? (by Ben S)
Click here to read the article I found about this topic.

Creatures of the Deep Ocean

Just recently I watched a documentary about the animals that live in the deep ocean, and I thought it was really interesting that the animals had evolved to live in a place with little or no light. One example is the hatchetfish. It has sides that shimmer and break up its outline in the gloom so predators can't see them. Predators of the deep ocean also have helpful adaptations. That is, to themselves, not their prey! Anyway, one of those predators is the angler fish. It has a lure attached in front of the mouth to attract smaller fish in front of it, when it comes out of the shadows and eats them. Other common adaptations include but is not limited to: creating their own light, casting lures, being able to rotate their eyes so they can be at the top and sides of your head, and being literally transparent. This relates to our class because we have been studying animals and their behavior. If you want to lean more, click here to see the documentary I watched. (by Pearl)

Meerkats

My animal for the book project is the meerkat and I will be telling you a little bit about it. The meerkat is an omnivore and eats anything from fruit to various types of insects, and the things that eat it are jackals, hawks, eagles, and snakes. The meerkat lives up to 10 years in the wild.  The female meerkat has 2-5 pups after a gestation period of 2 months. Meerkats live in groups and have a system of underground tunnels to move in and out of, this is called a burrow. Every day the meerkat community assigns some meerkats on sentry duty which means that if a hawk or eagle is coming they make a sharp shrill call so that all of the meerkats in their group will take cover. Meerkats have babysitters to look after their pups while they're doing other things around the burrow. The babysitters teach the pups basic skills such hunting, scaring off predators, and jobs. Click here to see a meerkat on sentry duty. I really liked this project because it taught me to put research into a project. (by Raines)

The Komodo Dragon Exploration

I chose to do my blog post on the Komodo dragon because they are very interesting animals. They also have some very cool animal behaviors that anybody can explore. After reading this, I hope that you like the Komodo dragon as much as I do.

The Komodo dragon lives on the island of Komodo in Indonesia where it hunts wild boars and smaller mammals. It is said that they have a poisonous bite, but nobody knows for sure if the "poison" is really poison or just bacteria in their saliva. The Komodo dragon can grow up to 150 pounds and be as long as three meters. The Komodo dragons tail is as long as its body and its skin is sort of like chain mail. The Komodo dragon uses its tongue to smell instead of using nostrils. Komodo dragons prefer dry places and are mostly a diurnal (active during the day) animal. The Komodo dragon has no natural predators except humans and is now an endangered species. When the Komodo dragon is hunting, its powerfully built legs allow it to run up to 20 miles per hour. It also has sharp claws that help it climb trees to get to birds. The Komodo dragon is a very interesting animal that is only in Indonesia. So if you can, try to help save the Komodo dragon. (by Levi)

phanimaladaptations.weebly.com/komodo-dragons.html

The Short Horned Lizard (or The Horny Toad)

The short horned lizard is an interesting animal. It lives in dry, rocky, desert areas from Arkansas to the Pacific coast. They are carnivores and eat only bugs and mostly harvester ants. Though the harvester ant is a prey of the toad, the ant has little pincers that contain venom which can harm the toad, and if one is swarmed with ants they can kill it. Luckily the toad has an antibody in it that stops the venom from harming it very much. Some predators of the horny toad are roadrunners, coyotes, wild dogs, hawks and large snakes. The horny toad can kill small snakes when defending their eggs and territory, but won’t eat them. The Short Horned Lizard gets its name from the small horns on its back which help when defending itself from predators. Another cool prey adaptation is when threatened the toad can squirt blood from its eye for up to a meter in any direction. It does this to confuse and distract predators so the predator will either run away or it can make a quick getaway. If you want to see the horny toad click HERE. (by Keller)

The African Elephant

In science class we are working on an animal behavior project for two weeks. We each got assigned an animal to study the behaviors of. My animal is the African elephant. The African elephant has some very interesting behaviors. One of them is, when a loved one of theirs dies they grieve a lot. They will cover the body with leaves, dirt and grass. Then they will stand over the body rocking back and forth while other elephants stoke them with their trunks. Another one of their behaviors is when they sense danger they with circle around their young, flaring out their ears to make them look more frightening. This project has been a lot of fun so far and I can't wait to learn more about the African elephant! Click here to watch a video of the African elephant protecting their young. (by Haven)

American Bison

When I was in Nebraska I thought that it was weird that there were so many wild bison and now you won't see any. This relates to ecology and animal behavior. Before westward expansion 20-30 million bison lived in the American Midwest. Then settlers came and shot many of the bison. Populations declined so much that in 1889 only 1,091 of these fascinating creatures were left. Despite all their troubles, bison are very strong. They are 5 to 6 and a half feet tall and can weigh over a ton. They can run as fast as 40 miles per hour and their curved horns can be up to two feet long. Bison have thick and shaggy coats to withstand cold Midwestern winters. They eat grasses and shrubs and the males and females live in separate groups, that only come together for mating. These groups have become more plentiful, due to conservation efforts. Several hundred thousand bison live in America today. (Claire R)

Sources: 
http://www.defenders.org/bison/basic-facts
http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/american-bison/

The Great Dugong

The dugong is a marine organism that has similar looks as a manatee. Dugongs live in a pack so they have more of a chance of catching food, keeping predators away, and living. A pack of dugongs can vary from two individuals, to 200 individuals. Dugongs like their peace and when they are disturbed, the organism will swim away frantically from the source. Dugongs are a semi-nomadic species. That means that they will migrate occasionally That can also means that they will migrate many miles to find a specific seagrass bed. Seagrass is their primary feeding source, and if they run out of it at one specific territory, they will move on to claim their next territory. During mating season the male dugongs defend an area from other male dugongs. This is a courtship behavior that the males display to impress the females of the species. The males are very aggressive and compete violently against each other to mate with the females. (By Julian)

eBook project

Right now, our sixth grade science class is starting a new project tied to the unit of animal behavior, and it will be very fun to do independently and as a group. All sixth graders have had to blindly pick a popsicle stick, which has a different animal name on it, including the coati, koala, and rattlesnake. If we did not show any interest in our animal, we got to trade with other classmates, or choose from a different pile of popsicle sticks that had not been picked. The animal that I picked was the coati, a small raccoon shaped animal found all over South America. If you didn’t know, ring tailed coatis are very quick tree climbers and even build their nests in trees. Being able to climb trees quickly is helpful when evading a predator, or trying to catch prey, or build shelter. Every sixth grader has recently been researching facts about their animal, specifically facts that answer different questions on a blue sheet that Lisa gave out as a guideline on Monday. We have started taking notes on our animals, and are beginning to form the base of each page of our ebook. By the end of the project after lots of research and trial and error, we want to have created a thorough ebook on the iPad. This project should be interesting, full of hard work, and fun! If you have any questions, feel free to comment below. (By Aidan)

Animal Behavior

In the past two weeks the Waynflete sixth graders have been learning about animal behavior. In class we watched 23 different animal behavior clips, and we had to fill out a sheet about the different behaviors of the animals like the bower bird and the bower a kind of showcase.  Now we are learning about pill bugs and sow bugs. We did a lab about the behaviors of the pill and/or the sow bug we drew a picture of the isopod under a microscope. It was cool looking at the features you never see normally on the isopod outdoors. I thought that this couple of weeks was amazing but that's just my opinion. (By Eli)