DNA

DNA stands for the chemical compound Deoxyribo nucleic acid. This is inside all cells. DNA is the blueprint for how each different a living thing works. DNA is like a code made up of these 4 chemicals: 

the structure of DNA

  guanine, cytosine, adenine, and cytosine. DNA tells cell  how to reproduce. 

Saving Otters

Otters are some of the most amazing creatures, from sea otters in the ocean to river otters in the rivers.  But these amazing creatures need our help.

Hello otter family!

Because of water pollution, and hunting in earlier times, otters are in need of protection--and you can help them!  Don't throw garbage in the streets because when it rains it washes in to rivers and oceans.  Also, give money to organizations that help rescue and rehabilitate injured otters. 

One of the places that helps save injured otters is Monterey Bay Aquarium.  One amazing otter success story is when Otter 501 was successfully rescued and released.It all started when the Monterey Bay Aquarium otter rescue team got a distress call that a otter pup had been found on the beach. They rushed over to help. They caught the baby otter in a net and brought it back to their medical clinic in the aquarium for a checkup.  They found the pup was hunger, but was too young to eat solid food.  They had devised an otter milk formula to give to the baby otters before, so they used that to give to the baby otter. Then he was nursed back to health and set free into the ocean. Yay!

Here's another otter they saved named Abby.

Did you know why otters need to groom? I will tell you. If the cold water gets into the otters skin it can freeze to death. Grooming pushes out water and air bubbles into their fur, so that the cold water does not come in.

Oil spills are also a big problem for otters.  They swallow the oil and breathe the fumes and it kills them, and many other marine animals.  The government should do more to protect animals from oil spills.

Let's save the otters!

Dolphins

Did you know dolphins use signs and sounds to communicate? Baby dolphin emit different sounds than the adults. They use squeals when they are babies before they learn how to click or whistle. Did you know how dolphins navigate in murky waters? Well I'll tell you how. They send out a high pitched pulse from an organ in their head called the melon. When the pulse bounces off of an object the dolphin receives it through its lower jaw and in to its ear. This process is called echolocation.  Their echolocation is so sensitive that they can tell the difference between tin cans and aluminum cans.  They can also sense fish hiding in sand.

When dolphins dive very deep they shut down their heard and lungs and stop pumping blood so they become less buoyant and sink to the bottom of the ocean. When they want to get up, they do a few quick tail strokes: when they get almost to the surface they open their lungs back up and swim the rest of the way.

Awesome Amphibians

"Amphibians are animals that lead a strange double-life," writes Steve Parker in the book Awesome Amphibians. They can breathe in the water or on land. In school I learned that amphibians can't live in saltwater or in Antarctica. Some amphibians like the poison dart frog are venomous to eat or even to touch because they have venom glands on their skin.

I'm warning you! I've got venom on my skin!

Poison dart frogs live in Central and South America, but I have seen amphibians closer to home.  I spotted this frog in the Montezuma National Wildlife Refuge in Central New York. Can you see him?

Ribbit!

I also saw an Eastern red spotted newt in Taconic State Park.  Isn't he cute?

From chimp to man

Chimps are like us in many ways. Like us, chimps form cultures within their groups. A chimp culture is formed when a mommy chimp passes on the skills she has learned from her mother to the next generation of chimps in her group.

For example, this mommy chimp is showing her baby chimp how to fish for termites in a termite mound.

Knowing these similarities between humans and chimps, it's not surprising that we had a common ancestor. Unlike apes who took to the trees, the fossils of early human ancestors were buried in limestone that formed from shells and mud. I think that shows that there must have been a marshy terrain, and they would have had to walk on two legs to keep their heads above water.

Tiger Footprints

To track a tiger you need to think like a tiger and if there are no footprints just guess. The best places to put video cameras is where there are lots of deer.

 

Mmmm! Deer!

Deer-filled areas attract tigers. Infrared cameras are good for seeing tigers at night.

Raptors!!!!

Raptors are predatory birds.  They hunt using surprise and swoop down on their prey.  They grasp it with their sharp talons.  Then they soar back up into the sky and land on their nest.  Most raptors hunt by day, but others like owls hunt at night.  Some owls have completely silent wings, while other raptors can glide for miles over the seas. 

I'm gonna get you!

Woohoooo!

Shhhhh....