December 18

Extinct animals

Extinct animals are animals that are no longer living. Today I am going to tell you about two extinct animals–Megladons and Dodo birds.

Megladons

Megladons

Megalodons lived about 23 million years ago. They lived in the ocean around Australia. Megalodons where over 60 feet long and weight over 60 tons. One cool fact about megalodons is that they had over 276 teeth and 5 rows of them! Megalodons ate fish, whales, sea turtles and more. Boy am I glad that megalodons went extinct over 3.6 million years ago. I don’t want to be eaten up by one.

Dodo Birds

Dodo birds

Dodo birds lived on the island Mauritius they ate berries, fruit, nuts and rocks to help them grind up the food in their stomach. Dodo birds couldn’t fly they were three feet tall and were the color gray and white. Dodo birds went extinct in 1681 about 338 years ago because of Dutch sailors who sailed to the island and hunted dodos for food because they couldn’t fly and where not afraid of humans.

December 18

Coywolf Pups

Coywolf pups are so cute, you may want to cuddle with them any time not just in the night. Their little faces, their little bodies, their pointy ears, and their long snout makes them so cute. Pups are small enough you can hold them from your wrist to your elbow. Pups are so light you could hold them with just one arm. Coywolves live all through Canada to Eastern North America.

When and Where They Were Born?

Coywolf pups are born from mid March to mid May. The pups can’t do much when they are born. The pups eyes and ears are sealed for ten days to two weeks. Pups can only drink their moms milk at that time. Before the pups are born the pack will make a den for the pups in large rocky and dense areas with lots of trees. Sometimes they will use the dens of other animals. Coywolves live all though Canada to Eastern North America. Pups first come out of their den at three months old but they will stay very close to their den.

What Are They Like?

When the pups are born their fur color is grayish blond and will stay like that until they are adults. When they are adults their fur will change to blondish black. Pups have little pointed ears that are super soft. Pups have little snouts with lots of whiskers. Pups have very little paws when they are born until they are adults. Pups have round brown eyes for their whole life. Pups have very soft fur that will keep them warm for their entire life.
Pups Height and Weight

When the pups are born they are less than a pound. At about three to four months they are four to five pounds. Pups are only three to five inches tall. When they are adults they are twenty to twenty five inches tall.

How Long They Live?

Coywolves live for four to seven years old. When pups are about two years old they can leave their parents to start a new pack or they can stay with their parents for the rest of their life.

So now you know how cute coywolf pups are.

Video credit:

Music by Peter Frankl (Debussy Preludes, Book II, Bruyeres)

December 18

How Rubber Is Made And Its Uses?

Rubber has many uses, like floss, tires, balloons, and much more. But how is it made? It has to do with trees. Its called a rubber tree. When you get a tool and scratch it along it, a sap comes and drizzles down. When it dries…..TADA rubber! Then it can be made into things like floss, tires, and more.

Rubber comes from the sap of the rubber tree.

Rubber uses

Rubber has lots of uses.Here’s an example–floss. You floss your teeth with it. Let me explain other uses too. It is used for balloon coloring and balloon making! It is used for masks for Halloween! Rubber is used for lots of things, and it’s just from a tree! There’s lots of uses for this stuff than these ones, so just look around to see with you can find it!

December 18

Stonehenge and Other Mysterious Places

Stonehenge in England.

What is Stonehenge 

Stonehenge is an unusual place that looks like a circle of rocks. Stonehenge is in Wiltshire, England. Stonehenge is a monument for the dead. No one knows who put the stones there. One Theory is that Merlin, the god of Arthurian magically put the stones there. Some think it is the ruins of a temple.

When Stonehenge Began

Stonehenge began 5,000 years ago. The first circle was built in 3,000 B.C,  made of timber. That is 3,000 years before Christ was born.

Why Stonehenge is so special 

Stonehenge is so special because it is a monument for the dead and it is so unusual because there are massive stones about 30 feet tall. Stonehenge is a prehistoric circle of rocks. Some people might think, “its just a circle of rocks how can it be so special”, well there’s a lot of reasons why it is so special. It has even been given the nickname “slaughter stone”. I think it is named slaughter stone because there has been many sacrifices.

Other Mysterious Places 

Now that i have told you a little about Stonehenge. I’m gonna tell you about some other mysterious places. First, the Bermuda Triangle is a deep triangle in the water, many ships have disappeared there. It covers all of the Caribbean islands. Its mysterious because many ships have disappeared without a trace.

Nazca lines was carved about 2,000 years ago, the lines form huge pictures, its located in Peru. The lines are about 1,200 feet long. They are lines that make animals and plants. They are carved on a a desert floor.

Yonaguni Monument are odd step stones that were discovered in 1986 in an ocean near Japan. It is underwater.

Last but not least, Chichen Itza, deep within the Mexican jungles is a mysterious temple or pyramid. it was built in 600 B.C.

 

December 18

Dodo Birds An Extinct Animal

The Dodo bird has been extinct for hundreds of years.

Do you want to know an extinct called “dodo”?  Today I will tell you why they extinct.

Dodo birds once lived on the Island of Mauritius.  Dodo bird was a type of flightless bird. They had tiny wings with their fat body.They were usually three feet tall, and weighed about 29 to 51 Ibs. They were full of downy gray feather and a white plume foratail.

In1630s Dutch sailor colonized Mauritius.They found the Dodo bird was to easy to hunt. So they caught more and more dodo birds, and the dodo birds became less and less. The last Dodo bird died in 1681.

December 18

Why do cats purr?

Why do cats purr? That’s a really good question. You probably think cats purr when they are happy but cats don’t always purr when they are happy but why? Let me tell a one reason why well the first reason is when a cat is sick or scared they will purr to calm themselves down. 

Gato busca hogarCreative Commons License Jose Antonio Moreno Cabezudo via Compfight

Why do kittens purr?

A kitten will purr when they are nursing to tell there mom that they are oak also when a kitten is nursing they will paw on their mother’s stomach to produce more milk. When a kitten is scared or stressed they will purr to calm themselves down or tell them that they are safe and they will purr to bond with their moms.

Why do adult cats purr?

In the wild a mother cat will purr but without  alerting any predators and when their cubs are messing around or play fitting they will purr to tell them to calm down. When a cat is sick, hurt dying will purr when they come back from a hunt but the will purr to comfort itself and tell itself that everything is going to be oak.                          

Did you like all of those facts about why cats purr? Well if you did let me tell you a theory of how cats purr. Some scientists think that purring comes from neural oscillator sells sells comes from the brain and the brain sends the sells to the voice box and the voice box shakes to make that purring sound.

December 18

What is Rubber?

raw natural latex

 When you think about rubber do you think, “Where does rubber come from?” or “What uses does rubber have?” or even “Who first used rubber?” All that will be answered and more in this blog post.

What is Rubber?

Rubber is sap from the rubber tree.The rubber tree was originally from the amazon rainforest but thailand and indonesia are the main makers of rubber today.With natural rubber you can make gloves, balloons, realistic masks, and bed mattresses. Natural rubber has a few nicknames like Latex, Amazonian Rubber, and India Rubber.

The first uses of Rubber

ball player

Mesoamerican ball player

The first uses of rubber were in South America and was used a long time ago by the South American natives called Olmecs for a few games. Rubber was later used by the Aztecs and the Mayas.

How Is Natural Rubber Made?

raw natural latex

latex from rubber tree

There are four steps to the process of getting rubber. Step 1: Start tapping, usually once every 2 days with a knife. Step 2: Collect the liquid rubber with small bowls. Step 3: Mix the liquid rubber with formic acid so it becomes solid rubber. Step 4: Press the solid rubber into sheets. Step 5: Ship the rubber to get sold.

Vulcanization of Rubber

rubber tires

vulcanized rubber tires

Vulcanization is something that you can do to rubber to make it harder but still a little bit flexible. Charles Goodyear discovered Vulcanization in 1839. With Vulcanized rubber, you can make car tires, clarinet bells, and shoe soles. Vulcanization is done by “cross linking”. Cross linking is done by mixing the rubber with sulfur at a high temperature.

cross-linked molecules

cross linked rubber molecules

So next time you see a piece of rubber you’ll know a little more about where it came from.

December 17

Coldest Place on Earth

Antartica

Do you know what the coldest place on Earth is? Well, since you can’t imagine what it feels like I’m going to tell you what I found. Scientists found out where by using a thermometer because you can’t just decide how cold it is somewhere without one. The coldest temperature ever recorded was -128.6 degree Fahreneit! I can’t even imagine how it felt!

Did you know the South Pole is colder than the North Pole. Plus the South pole is located in Antarctica. But now to answer you’ve been waiting for… the coldest place on Earth is Antartica!

Some fun facts about the cold is that dry ice can give you frostbite immediately if you’re not that careful. And did you know that Antarctica is Greek for opposite of North? And believe it or not Antarctica is actually a desert because it doesn’t get that much rain.

December 17

The World’s Largest Bird

A picture of a Elephant Bird.

Model of a Elephant Bird.

Elephant Birds are an extinct species that lived on the island of Madagascar. They were HUGE so big that your about 60% the size of this bird. They were 10 feet tall and weighed 1,000 pounds. This makes it the biggest bird to ever live and this odd and huge bird doesn’t stop being huge in other ways.

Elephant Bird Eggs

The Elephant Birds eggs were 150 times the size of a chicken egg. They were 12 inches tall and 8 inches wide these eggs are huge. Even though the eggs are huge they lay almost 150 eggs in there lifetime. If added up correctly that’s 150 feet tall if there all on top of each other and 120 feet wide if there all on a flat surface. These eggs also weighed a lot 22 pounds or 10 kilograms.

Elephant Bird Speed      

Not much is known about Elephant Birds speed but we know its about 20 mph or 35 kmph. That’s about the speed of a grown elephant.

These birds died off in the 17th century b.c from humans killing this HUGE bird.

December 12

Stop Animal Extinction!

Did you know the number of animals that go extinct each year is almost fifty thousand? That is extremely high. The Iberian lynx is one of the animals that went extinct recently. It is a nocturnal cat that could run as fast as 50 miles an hour. The Sabertooth cat is another extinct animal. It has been extinct for millions of years. It had a powerful jaw and could bite through bones. All these animals and more would have been good to have in the world today.

Humans are the main reason animals are going extinct. Climate change makes about 15 thousand species go extinct per year. Habitat loss is also a problem for animals. When people cut down trees animals lose their homes and have no place to hide.  Poaching is another reason animals are going extinct. People hunt animals illegally for money. The animals get hunted so much they go extinct. People try to catch poachers to protect animals.

Humans are concerned about animals going extinct. They have looked for ways to bring back extinct animals. Some scientists found a way. They have tried to clone animals. To clone an animal you need to have a DNA sample of its blood. It needs to have been collected recently. You put the DNA into another animal’s developing baby. The baby would then be whichever animal’s DNA was in it. The pyrenean ibex is a type of Spanish ibex that went extinct in 19 years ago. Scientists have tried to bring them back. They cloned a pyrenean ibex and they succeeded. A pyrenean ibex was born again, although it died minutes after birth.

I think we should try to bring animals back into existence permanently. I also think we should stop making animals go extinct. What do you think?

December 12

How Was the Asteroid Belt Formed

The asteroid belt is in the middle of our solar system. Did you ever wonder how it got there? Well imagine this, large amounts of gravity, asteroids trying to fuse together but blasting apart into pieces. Or another theory is that a planet blasting into many pieces to form the asteroid belt. Here is the last theory, imagine Jupiter drifting toward Mars, then coming back out scattering asteroids in every direction. Now let’s look at the facts!

Asteroids and the Asteroid Belt

Now, you’re probably thinking, “What is an asteroid?” Well an asteroid is a small rocky object orbiting a star. Most asteroids in the asteroid belt are left over from the solar nebula. The asteroid belt is made of a lot of asteroids orbiting our Sun. The asteroid belt is located between Mars and Jupiter. One last fact is that the mass of the asteroid belt is 4% of the moon. Now you know all this, let us move on.


InnerSolarSystem-en.png

The stuff that is grey is where the asterod belt is located.

Why is the Asteroid Belt Not a Planet?

As you probably know, gravity is used to make moons, planets, galaxies, stars and so on.   Too little or too much gravity doesn’t allow these things to form. Now let’s talk about Jupiter and two ways it affects, or affected the asteroid belt. Jupiter’s mass is the greatest of any planet in our solar system. Jupiter’s pull is so strong, most scientists believe it is one of the main reason the asteroid belt is not a planet. Especially in the asteroid belts early stages, when it tried to form a planet but even if they got close to each other and hit they would be blown into even smaller pieces.

Another theory is that Jupiter, in it’s early stages, drifted towards Mars, but when it came back to where it is currently it left the debris in the middle, now the asteroid belt, making the debris in the middle fling around. Also it left the debris with so much energy, everything was crashing into each other. Gravity affects a lot of things but does it have to have affected the asteroid belt? Well some scientists think not. Read on to find out about another theory.

 Could the Asteroid Belt Have Been a Planet?

Do you know about the hypothetical planet Phaeton? Well let me tell you about it. Some scientists argue that the asteroid belt is left over from a planet that was destroyed, and somehow made a bunch of asteroids, well it’s something along those lines. Others say that Phaeton would have been formed. Those scientists say that the turnings from protoplanets into planets was disturbed by Jupiter’s gravitational pull. That is one of the last MAIN theories about how the asteroid belt was formed. Naturally there are many more theories I could not include in this article. That is because nobody knows the exact way the asteroid belt was formed. All we have are theories.

What Do You Think?

Now that you have some of the main theories what do you think? Which theory do you believe in? Do you belive the theory that it is all up to Jupiter’s gravitational pull? Do you think Jupiter came in toward Mars then moved out and made too much energy? Or do you think the asteroid belt is left over from an exploded planet? Remember nobody knows exactly how the asteroid belt was formed. Maybe you will be the one to find the exact theory!

The asteroid belt now

PIA22419-Neowise-1stFourYearsDataFromDec2013-20180420.gif
Just for fun, this is a type of video. This is what it means : This video shows the progression of NASA’s Near-Earth Object Wide-field Survey Explorer (NEOWISE) investigation for the mission’s first four years following its restart in December 2013. Green dots represent near-Earth objects. Gray dots represent all other asteroids which are mainly in the main asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter. Yellow squares represent comets.

Photo credits:

By Mdf at English Wikipedia – Transferred from en.wikipedia to Commons., Public Domain, Link

By NASA/JPL-Caltech/PSI – Catalog page · Full-res (GIF), Public Domain, Link