Who is the elephant’s competition?

Human: In the 1970’s and the 1980’s one of the elephant’s completion was the human. Because some people would kill the elephants for their beautiful ivory tusks, to make things like jewelry. But today the government has made a stop to this and hunting elephants has gone down.

Lion: Lions eat lots of meat! They eat all sorts of different animals but hey, have you ever heard of a lion eating an elephant?! Well guess what lions are capable of taking down a full grown elephant! At first when lions started getting elephants they first went after the little baby elephants. Then when they realized what they could do they started to go after the big elephants.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TFHqlj3DT1I

(Watch this and you can see an elephant vs 8 lions!)

Moth: A moth is a very small living thing. But apparently it is a elephants enemy! A certain type of moth called moth mabra antofilia likes to drink elephant tears. Because its gets most of its substance from its tears. And when the elephant is not crying enough the moth will go into the elephants eye and scratch at their eyes to make them cry more! So the moth might be happy but the elephant isn’t!

What is the elephants defense strategy?

Elephants have many different defense strategies here are some of them:

1. If you watch this video you can see what elephants do to protect the young. All the elephants surround the babies. They also pound their trunks one the ground as a sign to predators to go away and communicate with other elephants.

http://animal.discovery.com/videos/caught-in-the-moment-asian-elephant-defense.html

2. Elephants have a very strong trunk they are able to carry many heavy things. Elephants use their strong trunks to fight off predators.

What do elephants need to do to survive?

-Elephants are very big creatures so they need lots of space.

-Elephants do not eat meat they eat different types of fruits for example banana, vegetables like cabbage, they eat hay, and also acacia leaf fodder (from a tree), etc.

- They need lots of water so they can drink and bathe

- Usually need to travel a lot to get these things in order to survive

Bibliography:

"Elephant Habitat and Competition - Unit Study on Elephants." About Homeschool - Homeschooling Information and Homeschool Resources. Web. 01 Dec. 2011. .

"What Do Lions Eat – an Elephant?" The Personal Blog of Vivek Gite. Web. 01 Dec. 2011. .

The Rabbit Bean Population

We did a activity pretending rabbits were beans. We had 2 different colour beans so white beans are female, and black beans are male. Each year each pair a rabbits give birth to two rabbits. So here is our recording made into differnt graphs going up to 10 years.





























So you can see that each year the population doubles.

Counting turtles Lab

This lab was about population of turtles and marking them to see if the population has increased or decreased. But then we also we had to search about our own country and see populations of a certain animal there. So I am from Australia and I chose a koala.

Here's some information about the koala's population from 2009-2010

- The koala foundation reports say that thousands of koalas are missing from the country’s eucalyptus trees

- The koala bear populations of the animals are between 20 percent and 50 percent lower than previous estimates

- The recently found out that no more than 80,000 koalas remain in the wild in Australia

- The number of population now is around 48,000

- Foundation is asking the government to make the koala a vulnerable species, so this might give then more protection

- They have also lost lots of their habitat

- Foundation says around 4,000 koalas are killed by cars and dogs each year

So as you can see here the population has decreased.

Bibliography

"Koala Population Plummets in Australia." Top 10 Endangered Species & Wild Animal Facts — All About Wildlife. Web. 17 Nov. 2011. .

ENERGY FROM PANDA POOP!?!

When you think of a Panda you think of this cute little cuddly black and white bear eating bamboo and living in China. But when Ashli Brown thinks of pandas the first image that comes to her head is their poop. She is thinking that their poop can be a new way of turning grass into fuel. Bamboo makes up most of the pandas diet. Plants and grass absorb energy from the sun, so Brown is trying to find a way how to use this energy. Plants are renewable energy source so we are able to replace them, this is called biomass. But most energy we use is from non-renewable sources such as coal, oil, and natural gases this is called fossil fuels. Burning the biomass could be one way of getting energy, but the poop teaches us about breaking it down. It is what the panda's stomach does to get more energy. So anything in their stomachs can be broken down well. Every 14 months they have counted the poop from the pandas who live at the zoo which is Ya ya and Le le. They have found 12 different species of bacteria even some they have never found in pandas. Brown is going to use one type of refuse to break down another refuse. Refuse is another word for waste. Her team is trying to figure out the chemicals that help break down the biomass, once they all do that they can turn grass and other plants into energy fuels.

To find out about this article I went to Science news for kids. Because I wanted to go on this website. And what I found so interesting about this article is that the main thing is that we can find another way to have renewable energy. I have heard about renewable wind, water and more things about renewable energy but never from grasses and other plants. And another interesting thing is how they can figure out so much about how to do this by looking at a panda's digestive section and their poop. So I think it is good how scientist have noticed this because if we start to do and find out more ways to make renewable energy then maybe one day we won't have to use non-renewable, plus it is harder to find now. So now when I think of panda's I not only think about how cute they are I will think about how their poop and the way the digest their food can help the world.

By Stephen Ornes / September 14, 2011

"An Energy Lesson from Panda Poop | Science News for Kids." Science News for Kids | Publication of the Society for Science & the Public. Web. 09 Nov. 2011. .

Octopus Using Coconuts as Armour? What!?

Octopus are very smart creatures and they can also put their intelligence to maneuver through mazes and they even try to get out of tanks. This tool makes the humble animal the first invertebrate. This discovery was discovered by a team of scientists in Melbourne Australia. They did more than 500 dives in 1998 to 2008 in islands of Northern Sulawesi and Bali, to observe twenty different types of octopuses. When an octopus has found a coconut bigger than itself they would use the coconut for many different reasons. Number 1: They would use it to get away from predators. So they use it as amour Number 2: a place to look out for predators, and also when they see their pray. And lastly Number 3: A place to live in. So doing this can really help them in the future because it helps them with the main things for an animal to live. It provided shelter, amour if predators come, and a place for them to look for their pray. It is a tool that they have discovered, they are able to do this because octopus are very sophisticated animals compared to other animals.













First the website I went to find this article what DOGO news. And then I cam across the article at first the title just made no sense to me I just thought is this person crazy? But as I read it got very interesting. I just find it very interesting how that octopus have discovered to use the coconut as a tool. Because I know that they are very smart animals but I never thought they would use something that would help them with many different things. Also reading this article made me think when crabs use shells as protection because well first lets say octopus against crab with shell. But the shell has some type of fungus growing on the shells with toxic chemicals. First the octopus is able to crush the shell but it will sput the crab back out because it cannot stand the toxic chemicals on the shell. So that is why it reminds me of a crabs shell because they both use it as protection etc.

Bibliography

By Meera Dolasia on 10/28/2011

"Octopus Use Coconut Shells As Mobile Home And Armor - Kids News Article." DOGO News - Kids News Articles! Kids Current Events; plus Kids News on Science, Sports, and More! Web. 31 Oct. 2011. .

Goats in Trees?!?!

Have you ever heard of goats in trees! Well guess what its true! In the North African country of Morocco there are goats that graze in the trees. These are not a special species of goats they are just regular goats. These goats have learned to adapt to there enviroment. Their source of food grows on Aragan trees and they are berries. Most of these trees are about 30 feet of the ground. The only way goats can get up is by scaling up. What scaling mean is when small plate like dermal or epidermal structures that characteristically form from the external covering of fishes, reptiles, and certain animals. Over the years these goats have not only learned how to do this but have also learned how to prance like a ballerina from branch to branch. There droppings also help with the locals because the locals pick up the dried up droppings and wash, grind, and press them to excrete oil. This oil is very healthy and highly coveted. So goats climbing trees is a very good thing!














First I went to DOGO news because I like the articles there and I picked something about an animal because I am very interested in them. And when I saw this article my eyes literally popped out of my head! I just never new that goats would be able to climb trees because they have hooves! So I just found it very interesting. I also found it interesting how the locals use their droppings to make oil which is also a good thing because we need more oil to cell. Each and everyday people all over the world find out that animals can do more then they are capable of. Maybe one day fish will be able to live out of the water! Who knows!

Bibliography

"Morocco's Nimble Goats - Kids News Article." DOGO News - Kids News Articles! Kids Current Events; plus Kids News on Science, Sports, and More! Web. 26 Oct. 2011. .

By Meera Dolasia on 09/23/2011

The Crooked Forest

There is a pine forest near Gryfino in the Northwest Poland. Where there are 400 weird curved pine trees. The weird part is that all these pine trees are surrounding a small area where there are then are all straight trees they way they are suppose to be. The theory for this is that the trees are shaped this way because of human intervention, with the saplings allowed to grow for around 10 years and then is pinned down in a way that they come up with a 90 degrees bend before coming straight out. Some of the locals believe it was handiwork be special carpenters from the German forces in 1930’s, in use for boats and furniture. But the trees were never harvested because World War 2 broke out in 1939. But then the Gryfino forest lumberjacks disagree because the pine trees are not good for furniture or boats. They think that the trees just grew naturally. These are some of the reasons why people think this has happened.

First I went to DOGO news and I saw that the new current events was about these trees. And I was interested because I have seen trees bend in other ways but never this way so I decide to write about that. And I think that the first theory is true because first it has the best reason of why it is and I just think it is compared to the other theory's. But I thought learning about this and finding out about this was very cool and interesting.

Biblography

"Poland's Mysterious 'Crooked Forest' - Kids News Article." DOGO News - Kids News Articles! Kids Current Events; plus Kids News on Science, Sports, and More! Web. 18 Oct. 2011. .

By Meera Dolasia on 10/11/2011

The rare White baby humpback whale!

Seeing a pod of humpback whales is a great treat for most humans to see. So imagine if people were able to see a pure humpback whale! So when the Australian resident Wayne Fewings and his family saw this pure humpback calf they we just amazed. This sighting took place on Thursday, September 29^th with the whales family was seen near Cid Harbor the coast of North Queensland. They saw something moving in the water when all of a sudden about 12-feet long white whale calf came out of the water, he could tell that it was only a few weeks old. The best but curious part for them was that the calf came so close to the boat it allowed Mr. Fewings to take amazing photos. Pure white whales are caused when the marine mammals are born without melanin, and they are extremely rare. The only documented one known to exist amongst 1500 that are reside along Australia’s east coast is Migaloo. Migaloo mean White Whale it is one of Australia’s most celebrated humpback whales. It was first sighted in 1991. Experts believe that while this calf could be Migaloo’s offspring, but it could also belong to a normal humpback whale carrying a recessive white gene. Scientist will not be able to confirm this unless the take samples and perform a perfect genetic test. Hopefully the little white whale will return and become a frequent visitor as Migaloo has been over the years.

First because I have not been to DOGO news in a long time I decided to go see what new articles they had. So I was going through and what caught my attention was this big picture of a white whale! And never in my life I have seen a white whale. So I decided to click on the article. I learned many things about the whale first it was found in Australia where I am from, Second I learned about how it is like the only other white whale compared to Migaloo. And lastly I never even knew there was a white whale! I think that it is so amazing because I actually sort of think that it would be exticnt because whales are almost extinct but his whit whale is living so I really enjoyed learning about it.


Bibliography

"Rare White Humpback Calf Sighted Off Australian Coast - Kids News Article." DOGO News - Kids News Articles! Kids Current Events; plus Kids News on Science, Sports, and More! Web. 05 Oct. 2011. .

By Meera Dolasia on 10/02/2011