The Platypus...Mammal or Bird? - by Paige

Did you ever wonder if there was such a thing as an egg laying mammal? If so, I will tell you there are 3 species, 2 Echidna and the Platypus. All 3 species do lay eggs and are mammals. I will talk about the Platypus.

The Platypus looks a lot like a duck-monster, but it is not a duck at all. It is a dark brown colored mammal with a duck-bill, webbed feet, and a tail like a Beaver. They live only in Australia and New Guinea. Males have a spur hidden behind their back feet under their fur. In autumn females dig barrows after they have mated in spring and is ready to lay her eggs.

She will stay wrapped around her eggs during her hibernation. In May her eggs will hatch. All winter in Platypus habitats, the female Platypus will hibernate because it does not snow. The female just protects their eggs. The female nurses her young until their eyes and ears open. She will spend 2 month teaching them how to live in the wild alone. Then one day while her young are still asleep she will leave them. The young Platypus go to start the whole cycle over again.

Wolves by Jedi Drew

Wolves are part of the dog family and mammals. Mammals have fur or hair, a backbone, a well developed brain, live babies, animal whose babies are fed milk from the mother's body, and is warm blooded.

Wolves have thick fur that covers their bodies. The fur is colored black, brown, gray, or white. They may have a maned head also they have strong legs, long and Strong jaws. Wolves can grow up to 3 1/2 feet long and can weigh up to 55 pound. They can run as fast as 30 miles an hour. Wolves live in forests, mountains or deserts in North America, Europe, Asia, grasslands, and in the arctic.

Wolves are carnivores which means they eat meat. They eat deer, elk, rabbits, ... but their favorite food is moose.

Wolves only have three enemies. They are people, other wolves, and bears.

Wolves have some cool facts about them. One of the coolest facts is that they can go without food for 3 or 4 days. Also a wolf's jaw is strong enough to crush bones.

I think wolves are really fascinating animals.

'Crocodile Hunter' Steve Irwin dead

SYDNEY, Australia (CNN) -- Steve Irwin, the enthusiastic "Crocodile Hunter" who enthralled audiences around the world with his wildlife adventures, died Monday after being stung by a stingray while shooting a TV program off Australia's north coast.

Read full article at CNN

The Ratel...Is it a Skunk? - by Paige

The Ratel (also known as the Honey Badger) is often mistaken for a skunk because of its white back. Although a Ratel has a patch of white it is different from the Skunk which has either stripes or spots of white depending on the spices. The Ratel lives mostly in Africa and parts of Asia. They are a brave fighter and will take on animals much larger than it, even cobras, cattle and bison.

They are only 60-77 cm long but have a tail that can be another 10-30 cm long! The Ratels markings are easy to see. The head, neck and back are covered with rough grayish-white and the face, legs, belly and short furry tails are solid black. A small number of Ratels are completely black! All Ratels short legs and big strong claws are well adapted for digging.

Ratels are extremely hard to kill. Their skin is unusually tough and is attached loosely to the body making it hard for predators to penetrate its skin to kill it. Ratels use a type of bird called a Honeyguide to help it find a bee hive. The Ratel uses it's claws to open the nest. The Honeyguide will then eat some of the bees and the Ratel will eat the honey.

Polar Bears revert to cannibalism

A recent study of Polar Bears has suggested that these magnificant creatures may be turning to cannibalism to survive. The lack of sea ice caused by global warming is preventing the bears from reaching their natural food source of Ringed Seals. There are also reports of bears drowning in suicide swims as they search for food and mates. See full articles at:
CNN.COM
WORLD-SCIENCE

My Cats - by Paige

Grady is my big, big, big, big boy! He eats a little too much. OK, he eats a lot! Just by estimation I'd say he is about 20-30 something pounds and you might have guessed he is gray.

Sadie is our oldest cat. My parents rescued her when I was not even born. She is scared of kids like me but I really don't care. At night is the only time she comes up to me. Lilly is the youngest cat we have. She was a young stray when we caught her and her brothers. She was the only girl cat. We took them to the vet and were able to adopt them out to different families. She was scared at first and a little shy but played a lot with her brothers. She is nicer now that she is older and I love her a lot although we are still trying to get her more use to people.

Why you should never kill a spider - by Paige

Never kill a spider, it is bad luck, Also, spiders are useful because they eat insects and pest like mosquitoes, flys, moths and other insects. They come in a variety of sizes, shapes and colors like this wolf spider. Here is a picture of a mother Wolf spider with her babies on her back.



They live everywhere in the world except for Antarctica. Here is a picture of a Crab spider. These spiders have a flat body and hold their legs to the sides making it look like a crab.. They can walk forward, backward, or sideways. They live mostly in North America.



This is a female Garden Spider. It is 19-28 mm long and lives in gardens, fields, roadsides, yards and near houses and tall grasses and weeds in open areas. If you look carefully in your garden you might just see one. Watch them and they might teach you something. Look for a big web in a sunny location. There is a zig-zag down the center of the web.

The next time you see a spider look carefully and you may learn more on how they live. Look around your house because spiders live everywhere. Never touch a spider because they may be venomous. Oh!...and don't worry. Black Widow spiders and Brown Recluse spiders DO NOT live around Toledo, Ohio.

Polar Bears and Hippos threatened by man-made dangers

(GENEVA, Switzerland) --The World Conservation Union or IUCN (a leading environmental agency) added the Polar Bear and Hippo to its list of species which face extinction due to climate change and man-made dangers such as unregulated hunting.

In addition, 530 other species of animals and plant life were added to the list since it 2004. The ICUN’s list titled the “Red List” listed China, Brazil, Australia and Mexico as home to large numbers of threatened species. It stressed that countries across the globe need to boost efforts for the preservation of biodiversity. Tougher emission standards, fishing and hunting controls were amongst the measures it stated needed to be addressed.

The Polar Bear was listed as “vulnerable” which is one step down from “endangered in the IUCN rankings, with predictions that the Polar Bear population could drop 30% in the next 45 years due to loss of habitat caused by melting ice caps.

The Hippo was also ranked as vulnerable because of a declined in it’s population in the Democratic Republic of Congo where unrestricted hunting caused a 95% decline in population since 1994. This is the first time the Hippo has been listed as threatened.

Other endangered species included:
Dama gazelles from the Sahara desert, half of the 25 species of endemic species of fresh water fish from the Mediterranean, and Lake Trout in Lake Malawi, Malawi