by Susan Dean | Feb 6, 2018 | Animals, Land Animals
Click here to watch an amazing Return of the Cicadas Video
This spring offers students in the North East an opportunity to watch the emergence of the periodical 17-year cicadas. Another periodical cicada has a 13-year cycle. Math teachers and students might wonder why prime numbers? Such cycles could serve an evolutionary purpose. The appearance of the Magicicada this year is special because Brood II has been underground feeding on tree sap since 1996. It’s also estimated to be especially large. As adults cicadas live 4-6 weeks, just long enough to mate and lay eggs.
National Geographic reports that there are 3,000 species of cicadas. Some cicadas are annuals and appear in late summer. These are the dog-day cicadas.
K-12 science students can do science using RadioLab’s Cicada Tracker. The site has a map covering the 17-year cicada’s range from Georgia to Connecticut. Primary students can collect soil temperature data with soil thermometers. Cicadas begin to emerge when soil temperatures reach 64 degrees 8 inches below the surface. Secondary students can build a temperature sensor with parts from RadioShack. Build Your Own Sensor includes a parts list and instructions. Data can be submitted to the Cicada Tracker website.
Most states have web pages with information specific to their state, but one comprehensive website is Cicada Mania. The site provides information, multimedia, and links. The site is large and offers plenty to explore, including many photos of unusual species from around the world and audio files of their distinctive songs.
For cicada anatomy, Scholastic Australia has a blackline master and Invertebrate Anatomy OnLine has a more detailed drawing and supporting information.
K-12 students can write cicada haiku. Cicadas are a seasonal presence, and the seasons are an integral element in traditional Japanese haiku. Basho (17th century) wrote at least two: Cicada— did it / chirp till it / knew nothing else? and Cicadas sing— / know not how soon / they all will die. Paul Fleischman’s Joyful Noise: Poems for Two Voices includes a cicada poem. Students can probably find other cicada poems.
Students in grades 3-8 might like to try their paper folding skills with two traditional origami cicadas, #1 and #2. Traditional origami patterns produce a stylized cicada. To see a realistic paper rendition of a cicada, see Brian Chan’s Cicada Nymph page.
Students in grades K-5 can collect abandoned nymph shells for closer study. Students in grades 6-12 can collect adult cicadas. How to Preserve Your Cicadas – Pinning describes how to preserve and display specimens. I like the suggestion that freshly dead cicadas can be used rather than collecting live specimens for a killing jar.
The cicada’s song can reach 100 decibels and can be heard a mile away. How can something so small be so loud? I should know better. I asked the same question when my youngest daughter was colicky. Producing “How the Cicada Sings” includes a finished animation that shows how they do it. This artist’s work might inspire future computer graphic artists. And Insect Minute – Cicadas provides labeled diagrams of their musical instruments.
K-12 students might enjoy reading if not following the recipes in Cicada-licious: Cooking and Enjoying Periodical Cicadas. But have a heart. Not before lunch.
Other sites that may be of interest:
http://www.cicadamania.com/
http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/bugs/cicada/
by Susan Dean | Feb 6, 2018 | Animals, Ocean Animals
Water, the Ocean, and Sea Life
Lets start with Water:
One oxygen atom and 2 hydrogen atoms join together to make a molecule of water. Oxygen has 8 protons, 8 electrons, and 8 neutrons, has a weight of 16 and makes up 8/9ths of the weight of water. Oxygen makes up 1/5th of the volume of our atmosphere. Hydrogen is the most plentiful element in the universe, has the lightest weight of 1, and is the simplest composition for an atom.
The simplest atom is the force of unimaginable magnitude in comparison to size. Hydrogen has the lightest weight of 1, the greatest specific heat, and is the most sociable element. Hydrogen loves carbon and oxygen! We have two elements that are gases at all temperatures on earth that combine to produce the only inorganic liquid on earth. It is the bearer of life and begets all organic liquids.
Water is an inorganic compound and the molecule has the shape of Mickey Mouse. It is called “The Mickey Mouse Molecule”. It is the most sociable element, next to hydrogen, and the most abundant. Water is the only element on earth present in all three states: solid, liquid, and gas (water, ice, fog). Ice is the strangest of all solids because water expands when it freezes and everything else contrasts except bismuth. There are about 7 kinds of ice that depend upon pressure to form. As pressure increases, the freezing point is lowered. Ask students what other liquids do we find naturally occurring (blood, honey, milk, tree sap, nectar, oil, mercury, tears, perspiration).
Earth is called “The Blue Planet” or “The Water Planet”. Water is the main composition of all living things. Its properties are strange, rare, and unique and it blankets 3/4ths of the surface of the earth. Life wilts and shrivels up without it!
97% of all the water in the world is in the oceans and is salty.
2% of water is ice
1% of water is “fresh” water and available to drink and use.
42% of fresh water goes for agriculture
39% to power and electric
11% home and office
8% manufacturing, and mining
At 32 degrees water freezes and forms a hexagonal crystal having six sides as topaz and quartz crystals. When frozen water floats on itself. Sound travels four times faster in water than in air. Water can dissolve or erode away a rock. Water takes up space as we see in the forms of oceans bigger than continents, icebergs as big as cities and clouds as big as the sky. Rain, snow, hail, fog, dew, steam, hot springs, geysers, rivers, ponds, puddles, and streams are all water. Bodies of water may vary in color according to the content.
We are nothing without water! We can only go about 3 days without any water. Grains, seeds, and nuts can live the longest without water because they have water sealed inside. It has an enormous power to absorb and store heat Water is the universal solvent and always the bearer of other substances.
Water is colorless, odorless, and tasteless and has weight, force, and pressure. We see its force in tidal waves, hurricanes, and floods. We know the pressure of water from its weight every time we carry a gallon of water (or milk). We love the many flavors of water to drink!
Water is the carver of the surface of the earth. . Heat from our sun drives the water cycle that carves the face of the earth. The Grange Canyon is the most significant carving by water.
Bodies of water:
Dead Sea in Palestine is the lowest body of water at 1300 feet below sea level.
Lake Titicaca is the highest body of water in the Andes Mts.
Red Sea has no rivers of any size and is surrounded by desserts.
Caspian Sea is the largest body of water with no outlet and covers 163,800 sq. miles.
Lake Baikal in Siberia is the deepest at 5,712 feet deep.
Lake Superior is the largest body of water covering a 31,820 sq. mile area.
The Nile is the longest river traveling 4,000 miles.
The Mississippi runs 3900 miles as does The Amazon but the Amazon is broader and carries more water.
The water table is the line below which the ground is saturated. Water flows downhill but pressure causes it to rise. Pressure underground causes underground water to form geysers, artesian wells, and hot springs but most water leaves the ground through springs or rivers.
The Oceans
The ocean is home for the majority of life. It is life’s primeval sea and it moderates climates and temperatures. Water has an enormous power to absorb and store heat. All life is conditioned by water.
Ocean water is salty. Salt is produced by evaporation of seawater or brine from other sources, such as brine wells and salt lakes, and by mining rock salt, called halite. Salt is the solid crystal halite and, a crystalline mineral composed primarily of sodium chloride, NaCl. It is essential for animal life in small quantities but is harmful to animals and plants in excess. It had been used in the past to preserve food, as money, and it is a nucleus for ice crystals or raindrops. It is created from water running off of the land. Salt water can be colder than ice or it can be 500 degrees hot near thermal vents.
Eighty percent of our oceans surface is in the southern hemisphere. The surface of the ocean is not flat but has but it bulges over mountains and dips over trenches below. The ocean bottom is mostly sand, silt, and mud. Mountain ranges and plateaus rise from the ocean floor. We have been able to map the ocean floor using sound waves. Europe and N. America move 1 inch further away from each other in a year. The Pacific Ocean is growing smaller, and the Red Sea is growing larger.
There are three segments to the ocean floor:
1. Shelf to 600 feet
2. Slope to 12,000 feet ( at the base is the continental rise)
3. The floor or the deep ocean
Ocean currents are like rivers flowing in the ocean. Ocean currents have an effect on climate and weather. The ocean itself doesn’t have a climate as such. Tides, currents, waves, temperature, salt, light, and depth affect life in the ocean. The temperature in the ocean varies little but 1-10 degrees. On land the temperature can vary from 40 to 100 degrees.
The Pacific Ocean – the largest and deepest ocean (14,000 feet) with a “Pacific Ring of Fire” (volcanoes) below. It has twice the water of the Atlantic. There are two gyres (two different surface currents circling) in the Pacific Ocean. Other oceans only have 0ne surface current.
The Atlantic Ocean – has an average depth of 11,000 feet. A ridge (The Mid-Atlantic Ridge) curves like a snake through the Atlantic Ocean. The ridge has a huge trench and is the birthplace of the floor of the Atlantic. At fracture zones earthquakes and volcanoes are common. The Puerto Rico Trench is the deepest at 30,000 feet deep. In the mid-North Atlantic is the Sargasso Sea where eels meet manatees, sea turtles, whales, and sharks.
The Arctic Ocean has an average depth of 3,000 feet. It is small, cold and like a shallow bowl. Arctic summers are always day and winters dark. In 1906 a ship took 3 years to cross the Arctic looking for a shorted path to the new world.
The Gulf Stream current is 50 miles wide, flows warm at 5 miles an hour. Deepwater currents are moving masses of cold water. Every ten years the ocean currents shift for two years. The water increases temperature and sea levels rise 20 inches. The cause is unknown.
In the two hemispheres of the earth, water moves circling in opposite directions. In the Northern Hemisphere it circles clockwise. In the southern it circles counterclockwise.
Ocean water swells crash into waves that wash up on the beach then roll back underneath. They can be gentle and calm or violent and destructive. Waves may be caused by wind, the upheaval of the ocean bottom, an earthquake, or a submarine. Waves are seldom more than 25 feet high but in storm may reach 60 feet. The motion of the wave can be circular or elliptical. A wave can have a spray that reaches 200 feet and the force of a wave can reach 3 tons per square foot. A tsunami is a tidal wall 100 feet tall usually caused from an earthquake.
Ocean tides rise and fall upon the shore. The earth’s spin creates traveling bulges and our moon pulls the along. There may be one or two high and low tides. The moon’s gravitational pull, supplemented by the sun, affects the tides of the oceans on earth. The average tide is 2 ½ feet high. Inland seas for all purposes are tideless. Vast energy is exerted by tides. This movement is a necessary condition for life. Stagnation is the forerunner of death.
Ocean Levels:
1. Sunlit – to 650 feet
2. Twilight – to 3000 feet –Life feeds on droppings from above.
3. Midnight Zone – to 13,000 feet – animals have developed bioluminescence.
4. Abyss to 20,000 feet
5. Hadal Zone – 20,000 plus
Ocean Organisms swim, float, attach themselves and become stationary, crawl, hitchhike, bore holes,
There are 3 groups of life in the ocean.:
1. Plankton – All forms that drift with the currents.
2. Nekton – Free swimming organisms
3. Benthos – those attached to or that crawl on the sea floor
In the ocean we find animals that:
1. Can generate 220 volts
2. Regenerate parts of their body
3. Squirt ink
4. Shoot acid
5. Multiply by mitosis
6. Have several rows of teeth
7. Have eight arms
8. Produce light
9. Dress like a lion
10. Change colors and patterns
11. Change sexes
12. Have tentacles with shooting barbs that sting
13. Animals that are stationary (attached to something)
Ocean animal facts:
1. The largest fish (whale shark)
2. The largest animal is the blue whale. The blue whale, Balaenoptera musculus, is the largest known animal ever to have lived on sea or land. Individuals can reach more than 110 feet and weigh nearly 200 tons
3. The largest bird is a sea bird – the albatross with a wingspan up to 12 feet.
4. The Tern is a small seabird that flies the farthest – 25,000 miles from pole to pole.
5. Some animals in the ocean look very different at different stages of life (polyps, medusa, jellyfish)
6. Some animals make sounds (the whales song, drumming fish, or squeaking toadfish)
7. Most ocean animals breathe water but the lungfish can breathe on land or water.
8. A flying fish can glide 150 feet.
9. The rare dugong related to the manatee lives in the Indian Ocean.
10. The giant squid is 65 feet long.
11. Chemosynthetic bacteria live at hydrothermal vents
12. The cuttlefish is an invertebrate with no brain to speak of and invented jet propulsion.
13. The oarfish, Regalecus glesne, is the longest bony fish in the world. With its snakelike body sporting a magnificent red fin along its 50-foot length, horse like face and blue gills, it accounts for many sea-serpent sightings.
14. Green turtles can migrate more than 1,400 miles to lay their eggs
15. Blue fin tuna are among the largest and fastest marine fish.
16. Penguins “fly” underwater at up to 25 miles per hour
17. Horseshoe crabs have existed in essentially the same form for the past 135 million years.
18. A scallop has thirty-five eyes, all of which are blue
19. The giant squid, once considered a myth, is the largest creature without a backbone. It grows up to fifty-five feet across and weighs up to 5,000 pounds.
Giant squid have the largest eyes. Their eyes are sixteen times wider than human eyes, or more than a foot in diameter.
20. Sea horses are probably best known for their roles as father, as one of the
only species of animal where the male becomes pregnant and gives birth.
Female sea horses insert their eggs into the male’s pouch where they are
fertilized and held until they hatch
21. An octopus has 3 hearts and its blood is light blue. They are completely deaf.
22. The octopus and starfish can grow new limbs.
23. The leatherback turtle is the largest sea turtle at 6.5 feet long and 1500lbs.
24. The box jellyfish kills more people each year than any other sea animal. Its sting can kill in 3 minutes.
25. Crabs teeth are in their stomach.
26. The most primitive fish-like animals are those with sucking mouths, such as lampreys and hagfishes, whose evolution stopped short of the development of biting jaws.
27. The smallest fish is the tiny goby, an inhabitant of fresh-to-brackish-water lakes in Luzon, Philippines. It seldom is longer than a half inch at adulthood.
Out of the 33 phyla or groups of animals, one is found only on land, 16 are found only in water, and 16 found on land and in the ocean. Of the 7 species of sea turtles, 5 are endangered.
Plants in the ocean are seaweeds attached to the ocean floor like kelp. Some are tiny green plants that swim around and many forms of sea life feed on ocean meadows of life called plankton (microscopic plants and animals). The most familiar are diatoms. Most continents and islands are fringed with seaweed
Rare Arctic Ribbon Seal
The Carolina hammerhead
Scientists have discovered a new species of shark in the ocean off South Carolina and have named it for the region where it was found. Thought to reach 11 feet long and weigh about 400 pounds, the shark has been identified cruising the waters at Bull’s Bay north of Charleston, St. Helena Sound near Beaufort and in the Charleston harbor. Biologists suspect these hammerheads occur worldwide, since evidence of them has been found in the past from Brazil to the Indian Ocean. The number of Carolina hammerheads is thought to be small. It’s almost impossible to tell the difference between a Carolina hammerhead and the well-known scalloped hammerhead – except for one major distinction: the newly identified species has fewer vertebrae than its shark cousins. Carolina hammerheads have 83 to 91 vertebrae, while scalloped hammerheads have 92 to 99 vertebrae. Carolina and scalloped hammerheads are the second largest sharks found in Palmetto State waters, behind the great hammerhead. The sharks are distinguished by their wide, anvil-like heads.
Cuttlefish
A drop of sea water magnified 25 times by David-liittschwager
THE HARLEQUIN SHRIMP
THE POM POM CRAB
The mouth and esophagus of the leatherback turtle are a perfect example of how an animal can become adapted to its diet and habitat. When the turtle consumes jellyfish (and it must eat many, as jellyfish have low nutritional value), the esophagus stores both the jellyfish and the seawater that have been swallowed. However, to prevent the stomach filling with water, the seawater must be expelled. So how does this happen?
The answer lies in the backwards-pointing spikes you see in the mouth of the turtle, which continue down the esophagus and grow progressively larger. As the muscles of the esophagus squeeze the seawater out, the spines keep the jellyfish in place. Once all the water has been expelled the jellyfish are then passed into the stomach. This strange adaptation is one of many that have kept this magnificent species in existence for 90 million years.
More information on the leatherback sea turtle: http://on.natgeo.com/bdf17q Edit: yes, that is blood around its mouth. This animal washed up on shore dead and was dissected for the educational television show “inside natures giants”.
Hatchet fish
Hatchetfish are deep-sea fish found in the Pacific, Atlantic, and Indian oceans. What this fish lacks in good looks, it makes up for in ingenuity. It uses a form of bioillumination to mimic light intensity from the surface, effectively cloaking it from poor-sighted predators.
Piglet Squid
PREGNANT SEAHORSES
BABY STING RAYS
This is my collection from a Pacific Ocean beach near Santa Barbara. The colors are beautiful and if you look closely you can see the small air bladders on some of the plants.
BIOLUMINESCENT PHYTOPLANKTON IN AUSTRALIA
Papakōlea Beach is a green sand beach located near South Point, in the Kaʻū district of the island of Hawaiʻi. One of only four green sand beaches in the World, the others being Talofofo Beach, Guam, Punta Cormorant on Floreana Island in the Galapagos Islands, and Hornindalsvatnet, Norway. It gets its distinctive coloring from the mineral olivine, found in the enclosing cinder cone.
green sand
GLASS BEACH FORT BRAGG, CA.
by Susan Dean | Feb 6, 2018 | Animals, Ocean Animals
Some animals in the ocean are more dangerous than others. Some of them either bite, are giant, can sting, have venomous spines or sharp spines, and some have knifelike teeth or a grip that they maintain until death.
Some animals that are intimidating for their size or have painful bites are:
• The giant grouper or sea bass can be 12 feet long and weighs 500 pounds.
• The giant manta can be 20 feet long and weigh 3500 pounds.
• You could get caught between the giant clams valves.
• We are all familiar with the sharp teeth of a shark and their attacks.
• The giant barracuda is 6-8 feet long and has enormous knifelike teeth.
• The killer whale will attack anything that swims.
• Sea lions will nip divers when they are breeding
• The giant moray eels have teeth and can bite.
Some animals can inflict painful stings, have sharp edges or fire nematocysts (little poisonous harpoon-like structures on tentacles in their skin) such as we find in Coelenterates:
• Hydroids like the Portuguese man of War, jellyfish and sea anemones make terrible stings
• Corals and oysters have knife sharp edges
• In the class of mollusks there are gastropods that sting and puncture such as the stinging snails and slugs or other univalve mollusks like the cone that punctures when
it stings.
• Other mollusks that are cephalopods can sting. The giant octopus, can be 25 feet long and has a venomous bite. Others like the squid, nautilus, and cuttlefish can also sting.
• Some annelids or sea worms can bite or sting like the bristle worm.
• Sea urchins (Echinoderms) can sting. This spiny animal has large needle sharp spines that can break off in wounds and some spines are venomous.
Venomous Marine Vertebrates:
• The spiny dogfish shark is the most abundant shark and has a dorsal fin that is mildly poisonous.
• Stingrays can give a venomous tail sting.
• The weaver fish has cheek spines and the 1st dorsal fins and gills are poisonous.
• The scorpion fish has needle sharp fins that sting.
• The surgeonfish had poisonous spines.
• The toadfish may bite and it has hollow spines with glands that inject venom.
• The elephant fish and the rat fish have dorsal fins that sting.
• The catfish is a ray finned fish and has barbed cats whiskers and sharp spines and swim in corkscrew turns inflicting a mildly toxic wound.
by Susan Dean | Feb 6, 2018 | Animals, Land Animals
Insects were the first flying animals.
The dragonfly lived 350 million years ago and had wings 2 ½ feet across.
250 million years ago dinosaurs began to fly.
PTERANODON, 175 million years ago, had a wingspan of 17 feet.
ARCHAEOPTEREX, 150 million years ago was the FIRST TRUE BIRD.
QUETZACOATLUS had feathered wings and scaly skin like a reptile and had the largest wings spanning 40 feet across. The bald eagles wingspan is 7 feet.
Think about the different kinds of air flight and wings of: reptile, insect, bird, bat, fish, squirrel, and spider.
The shape of the wing causes the air above to travel faster than the air below. The pressure above is reduced and results in more pressure below and it gives the animal LIFT. The Bernoulli effect – Air acts like a fluid and its effect upon a curved surface is “lift.” Lift overcomes gravity.
The hummingbird is the only bird that can hover like a helicopter pushing the air down or sideways. The BEE HUMMINGBIRD is the smallest bird body and is 3 inches long with a wingspan of 6 inches.
Some birds hover, glide, dive, loop, and soar (ride the thermals (the rising currents of warm air). Some birds fly in formation like ducks and geese.
The feathers of birds are light and strong, keep the bird warm, and provide a large wind surface. There are different kinds of feathers. Coverts form the smooth surface. There are contour feathers, wing flight feathers and tail feathers. Barbs link the parts of some feathers together. Feathers evolved from the scales of dinosaurs, the immediate ancestors of birds and are made of keratin, a tough flexible protein. The central shaft of the feather is the quill.
Some birds are unable to fly like the ostrich, emu, chickens, turkey, and penguin.
The albatross is the largest bird with a 12-foot wingspan. The wandering albatross is endangered because so many have been caught in fishnets and died.
Birds have better sight and voices than people and remarkable eyes in shape and movement. An owl can rotate its head from front to back.
The ARTIC TERN flies 25,000 miles a year from the Arctic to the Antarctic.
The spotted whooper swan flies the highest at 27,000 feet above sea level.
The spine-tailed swift is the fastest bird at 112 mph.
The monarch butterfly migrates 2,000 miles from the great lakes to Mexico. Butterflies have better taste. Macaws can live to be 100.
A humming birds wings beat 80 times a second.
The peregrine falcon almost became extinct from DDT poisoning.
Raptors and birds of prey can do a high-speed dive and have telescopic vision.
Birds fly in different ways. Some soar on the thermals and some flap wings and glide as swifts. The finch has a bobbing flight, and hummingbirds hover at 100 / sec. Some birds are fueled by nectar, some dive, and some fly in formation. Penguins fly underwater at 25 mph.
Insects are the most common flyers and there are millions of them. Most insects fly like hummingbirds.
The housefly is the fastest insect at 30 mph.
SPIDERS balloon using their silk.
The honeybee like most insects has 2 pair of wings and has to collect nectar from 2 million flowers to make a pound of honey.
The butterfly holds its wings together when resting. Moths come out at night and keep wings open when resting.
Ladybugs and some beetles have hard wing cases covering their wings.
The FAIRY FLY is the smallest flying animal.
The bumblebee bat has wings 6 inches and weighs less than a penny.
The largest insect is the Queen Alexandra’s Birdwing butterfly with 12 ½ inch wings.
THE GLIDERS are bats, flying fish, flying squirrel, flying lizard, flying gecko, flying snake, and the flying frog that has skin stretched between toes. Big brown bat can go 40 mph.
The bat is the only mammal that can truly fly. Four long fingers support their wings. Bats can spin, fly upside down, and turn loops. The largest bat is the Indian flying fox with wings 6 feet across.
Whales, dolphins, bats, some birds, and other fish use ECHOLOCATION when they travel. Animals that fly can sense vibrations and gravity and we think magnetic fields and many migrate in winter as the robin, geese, and ducks.
Flying Squirrel
Ballooning spider
Tiger Swallowtail
Flying gecko
Flying Frog
Bat
Flying fish
Gliding snake
BLUEJAY
Ladybug
Mosquito
by Susan Dean | Feb 6, 2018 | Animals, Earth Science
The study of fossils is called Paleontology. Fossil means “to dig”. Fossil records show us about life that was unable to adapt and the remains of prehistoric life. Fossils are dug up clues in rocks. If dead bodies are buried in sediment, the hard parts remain such as bones or teeth, and shells.
The Rockies, Alps, and Andes were once under water. Most fossils are made in lakes or seas. The strata are layers of sedimentary rock. The bottom layer of strata is the oldest. The oldest rocks known are 3000 million years old. In 1749 – 250 years ago a unicorn was reconstructed from fossil bones.
To become fossilized a plant or animal must:
1. Usually have hard parts as bone, shell, or wood
2. Be buried quickly to prevent decay
3. Be undisturbed through the process
Sometimes whole animals are preserved. Fossils have shown us that the early elephants were more like hogs. In Siberia and Alaska fossil mammoths about 25,000 years old have been found in frozen ground. Insects have been found in amber (the fossilized sap from trees). Leaves or small marine animals have been buried in mud that hardens to shale and a thin film of carbon remains outlining the form and preserving it.
Silica, iron, and lime are deposited in fossils. Petrified wood is mostly silica. In some fossils the life material has dissolved away and only a cavity remains. If substances fill in the cavity a cast will be formed. Gastroliths that dinosaurs used in digestion have been found. Rocks are formed from mud, sand, and clay in the seas, lakes, caves, deserts, and river valleys. Sedimentary rock contains almost all the fossils found. Rainfall, wind, running water, and evaporation change the surface of the earth. Erosion produces the sediments from which sedimentary rocks are formed.
SEDIMENTARY rock:
Limestone in warm shallow seas is often found w/fossils
Shale from silt and clay
Sandstone in deserts and shallow water with ripple marks and mud cracks
Fossils are a source of coal, oil, and lime. Fossils allow us to plot geography and reconstruct life and history. They are clues to the earth’s past climates and they map rock formations.
Fossil corals, brachiopods, bones, wood and ammonites have been found that lived millions of years ago. Rocks have been found pitted with raindrops, footprints, ripples from waves, and imprints of plants. Wood may become petrifies and turned to stone, or a fossil may be cast as a clam. Coprolite or fossilized excrement has been found. Some fossils are found in AMBER (pine resin) with insects inside. In the ice of Siberia, a wooly mammoth was found preserved.
In the Grand Canyon we can see the strata (layers) of rock. Erosion of rock occurs from weather and plants and water. Rocks can be crushed into soil.
Fossils have been found in mines, where roads or railroads were cut through or canals built, at beaches, rivers and in mountains and gorges.
Paleontologists have discovered dinosaur eggs as big as beach ball, horn coral and coprolites from the Devonian period, a dinosaur tooth from the Triassic age, fossil barnacles, arthropods, gastropods, trilobites, brachiopods, sea urchin, ammonites, worms, an elephant tooth of a mastodon & mammoth, and a large scallop from the Miocene age.
Ray Chapman Andrews developed fossil expeditions. Some were so big that problems arose about how to remove fossils from the ground and carry them home. It wasn’t as easy as just finding them. They wanted to preserve them. There weren’t many maps then.
What to take on a fossil expedition:
Field glasses, cameras, notebook, map, crowbar, pick, shovels, hammer, chisels, wire brush, plaster and shellac for repair.
Draw a chart of the arrangement of bones in rock
Take pictures
Number the bones before removing them
Fossils are pried out of the ground, covered with thin wet paper, covered with plaster – like a plaster cocoon for protection. They may have to be lifted with a block and tackle on a tripod if they are very large. They may be crated and cushioned with wood wool or a soft material when ready for a journey. When they arrive, the cocoon is soaked off, splints removed, paper comes away and there is the bone! The fossil is cleaned on one side then the other on a bed of fine sand. Broken pieces are mended, missing parts restored and inserted and then the experts study the fossil. They may decide to mount the fossil. Fossils are given International Greek or Latin names to not be misunderstood,
Trilobites are one of the most universally recognized fossils. Trilobites roamed the sea floors from 520 million years to 250 million ago. Trilobites were a wonderfully diverse group of arthropods that came in various sizes from less than an inch to several feet in length. Some of them can have a very exotic look to them. The Biggest Trilobites – Isotelus rex is the largest known species of trilobite. It was found in northern Manitoba.
This humongous arthropod measures about 28 inches (72 centimeters) long. Isotelus rex is now on display at the Manitoba Museum in Winnipeg. Ammonite
Cephalopod is the name given to the Squids and Octopus. Ancient Cephalopods often had hard shells that could be straight or spiral and came in elaborate shapes, sizes, designs and colors. They varied in sizes of less than 1/4 in diameter to several feet in diameter. The three main groups of fossil cephalopod remains found are Nautiloids, Ammonites and Belimites.
These ancient beauties lasted from about 400 million years ago to about 160 million years ago when they disappeared about the time the dinosaurs became extinct. The legacy they left behind are some of the most diverse and interesting fossils that can be found.
The largest ammonites – Titanites are often 2 feet (53 centimeters) in diameter. They are found in southern England and come from the Jurassic Period.
Pachydiscus seppenradensis sometimes reach a diameter of 6 ½ feet (2 meters). They are found in Germany from the Cretaceous Period.
Parapuzosia bradyi can be 4 ½ feet (137 centimeters) in diameter. They are found in North American, from the Cretaceous Period.
The Largest Nautiloids – The largest nautiloid on record is called Endoceras. It is from the Ordovician Period and has been measured up to 13 feet (3 ½ meters) long.
Earth’s Oldest Fossils – The evidence of microscopic life forms has been detected as old as 3,700 to 3,800 million years ago. This evidence was found in Isua greenstone in Greenland. There have been claims of evidence dating back as far as 3,850 million years ago but these are not universally accepted.
The Oldest Fish Fossils – The oldest fish fossils on record were found at Chengjiang, in Yunnan Province, China. Two species have been found dating from about 530 million years ago. Haikouichthys ercaicunensis, and Myllokunmingia fengjiaoa, are recent finds. If verified these finds will rewrite the fish chapter of evolution.
Largest Dinosaur – Sauroposeidon may have been the largest dinosaur ever to walk the face of the earth. Scientists believe this gigantic dinosaur would have stood 60 feet tall (18 meters) and weighed 60 tonnes! Sauroposeidon means “earthquake god lizard”. This dinosaur may also hold the record for having the longest neck.
Biggest shark – Megalodon is estimated to have been 40 to 50 feet long and weigh 48 tons!
Oldest Fossil Beds – The oldest fossils of multicelled animals come from two places on earth. The Burgess Shale formation in Canada was long regarded as the oldest fossil bed. The Burgess Shale was formed about 530 million years ago during the Cambrian period. Many early Cambrian Period fossils have been found there. The Chengjiang Deposits of China are thought to be older than Canada’s Burgess Shale. The fossils are found near the town of Chengjiang, in the Yunnan Province of China. This area appears to be about 15 million years older than the Burgess Shale formation.
Brachiopods are benthic (bottom dwelling), marine (ocean), bivalves (having two shells). They are considered living fossils, with 3 orders present in today’s oceans. They are rare today but during the Paleozoic Era they dominated the sea floors.
Though they appear to be similar to clams or oysters they are not related. They are not even mollusks. They belong to the phylum Lophophorata and are related to bryozoans. Crinoids are unusually beautiful and graceful members of the phylum Echinodermata. This is the phylum that brings you starfish, sea urchins, and sand dollars. The crinoids are a breed apart however, they resemble an underwater flower. Some even have parts that look and act like roots anchoring them to the ocean floor. They are commonly called sea lilies. Their graceful stalks can be meters long. Other varieties have no stalks or root like parts. They are commonly known as feather stars. Unlike the sea lilies the feather stars can move about on tiny hook like structures called cirri.
Crinoids are alive and well and living in an ocean near you! They are some of the oldest fossils on the planet. The earliest come from the Ordovician Period.. The few species surviving into the Mesozoic Era thrived. Many new species evolved during this time including the ancestors of the present day class Articulata. These echinoderms were at their height during the Paleozoic era. They could be found all over the world, creating forests on the floor of the shallow seas of this time period.
Carcharodon Megalodon was a giant shark that lived during the Miocene and Pliocene epochs of the Cenozoic Era, between 2 million and 16 million years ago. Little is known about these giant predators because all that remains of their existence are fossilized teeth. These giant shark teeth range in size from 3 inches long to 7 inches long. They are massive things that can be bigger than a man’s hand.
Spider captured in amber
by Susan Dean | Feb 6, 2018 | Animals, Land Animals
Recently a friend showed me a hickory horned devil caterpillar, a monstrous caterpillar and the scariest I had ever seen. The Regal Moth or Hickory Horned Devils are commonly found on walnut, hickories, persimmon, sweetgum, and sumacs. It’s said that larvae grow faster and larger on persimmon.
The moth lays up to four tiny yellowish eggs on the upper surface of the host plant that hatch 7–10 days later. After hatching, the small black larva feeds at night and sleeps the day, using leaf tops as hammocks and masquerading as a bird dropping. The larva molts four times, enlarging with each molt and changing colors, wearing shades of yellow, brown, and bright orange before the final coat of green. It spends about forty summer days devouring foliage.
The larva, mistaken for bird poop, mushrooms into the largest North American caterpillar at six inches long and fat as a hot dog with a massive reddish-orange headpiece of horns with black spikes up to an inch long. Enhancing fear are two long and two shorter red spikes protruding from the next two segments, and four short black spikes on the abdominal segments. Big black spots on the body mimic eyes. Chickens shy away, but other birds devour them. Pick them up without fear, but picking them up is the hardest part.
The caterpillar’s spikes neither pierce nor sting; its bright colors are just for show; and its ruse of rearing its horned head and vibrating violently to create a buzz resembling that of a rattlesnake’s is but a scam.
Before pupation, the larva expels its gut and changes color from green to turquoise. They crawl down the host and burrow in the ground five or six inches deep and pupate in a earthen chamber, rather than spinning a cocoon. The devils are transfigured into glossy brown pupae, which will spend winter entombed like mummies. Some pupae overwinter two seasons.
From the tomb arises the adult regal moth, giant cousin of the silk moth and the largest moth north of Mexico. When the orange veined, greenish-gray wings dotted with creamy yellow are smoothed open, they measure up to six inches across. After mating, the female spends her life laying eggs. Adults have vestigal mouths, mouthparts are reduced, and they do not eat and only live about a week. It’s a midsummer moth, on the wing from late June through August with larvae peaking August through October. Remember, they may look creepy, but they’ve got nothing.
Pupae
The Regal Moth
It’s not easy being a caterpillar. They have the misfortune of being rather defenseless and an easy dinner for other animals. With this in mind, many have evolved various means of protection such as the elaborate camouflage of the Saturniid Moth Caterpillar.
Moth Silhouettes
Kingdom Animal
Phylum Arthropod
Class Insect
Order Lepidoptera
Moths, setting their heart on a star, set their heart on a lamp instead – with no burned wings. The Navajo call their wild behavior of flying into flames “moth madness.”
The study of butterflies and moths is known as lepidoptery. Biologists that specialize in them are called lepidopterists. There are 165,000 species of Lepidoptera: 150,000 moths and 15,000 butterflies. There are over 11,000 species of moths in the U.S. – more than all the bird and mammal species in North America. Moths outnumber butterflies by more than 10 to 1. Moths can range in size from smaller than a pencil tip to bigger than a songbird.
Moth larvae, or caterpillars, make cocoons from which they emerge grown with wings. Some caterpillars dig holes in the ground to live until they are ready to turn into adult moths.
Moths (and their relatives, the butterflies) are the only group of insects that have scales covering their wings, though there are a few exceptions. They have scaly wings that are layered like shingles. They differ from other insects by their ability to coil up their feeding tube (the proboscis). Moths can usually be distinguished from butterflies by their antennae, which are typically threadlike or feathery; butterflies have club-tipped antennae.
Moths are important pollinators. While some moths are major agricultural pests, many are important pollinators. Their hairy bodies make them great pollinators.
Moth-pollinated flowers tend to be fragrant and white, allowing nocturnal moths to easily find flowers after dark. Moths practice mutualism and are important pollinators of night flowers. Some moths pollinate by day like the Hummingbird moths, feeding on a variety of flowers, including bee balm, honeysuckle and verbena.
Moths have a proboscis, a rolled tube for sucking. Some moths suck nectar and others don’t eat at all. The adult Luna moth doesn’t have a mouth. After it emerges from its cocoon, it lives for about a week. Its sole mission is to mate and lay eggs. The Luna moth grows to a wingspan of four and a half inches. Most moth adults do not eat at all. Most like the Luna, Polyphemus, Atlas, Prometheus, Cecropia, and other large moths do not have mouths. When they do eat, moths drink nectar.
Moths are active at night, have less bright colors than butterflies, hold their wings flat at rest, and have threadlike or featherlike antennae. Moths have hooks on the hind wings that attach them to the front wings.
Moths use pheromones and chemical scents to locate mates. A male moth can smell a female more than 7 miles away. They detect odor molecules using their antennae with hair like scent receptors that allow them to detect a single molecule of a female moth’s sex hormone. They have a complete metamorphosis: egg – larva – pupa – adult. They deposit eggs on a plant food source that the larva will eat.
Most moth caterpillars are harmless, have camouflage, a bad smell, and a few have stinging hairs, a bad taste and vivid patterns. Moths often match the backgrounds on which they rest. Moths are great mimics. To avoid being eaten, some moths look like less palatable insects, such as wasps, tarantulas, and the praying mantis. Some moths even mimic bird droppings.
Caterpillars molt. An instar is the time between molts. Different moths have different numbers of instars and molts. At the end of the last larval instar, the caterpillar changes to a pupa in a silken cocoon. They remain there several months or may winter over before it emerges and pumps fluid into its wings to fly.
In some parts of the world, moths are a major food source for people. More than 90 percent of people in some African countries eat moth and butterfly caterpillars. Caterpillars are packed with protein and healthy fats, and research shows that 100 grams of these insects provide more than 100 percent of the daily requirement of some vital minerals, such as potassium, calcium, zinc. and iron.
Because of their abundance, moths are major players at the bottom of the food chain. Caterpillars are one of the most important things that moths offer in the ecosystem as food for everything else. They’re a huge source of food for bats. Some moths have evolved defenses against winged predators. Tiger moths produce ultrasonic clicking sounds that jam bat sonar. Most nesting birds rear their young on insects, and caterpillars are a significant part of their food. Nocturnal insectivores feed on moths; these include some bats, some species of owls and other species of birds. Moths are eaten by some species of lizards, cats, dogs, rodents, and some bears. Moth larvae are vulnerable to being parasitized by Ichneumonidae. There is evidence that ultrasound in the range emitted by bats causes flying moths to make evasive maneuvers because bats eat moths. The frequencies trigger a reflex action that causes it to drop a few inches in flight to evade attack. Tiger moths emit clicks which foil bats’ echolocation.
Several moths in the family Tineidae are pests because their larvae eat fabric from natural proteinaceous fibers such as wool or silk. Repel them by the scent of wood from juniper and cedar, by lavender, or by other natural oils.
Some moths are farmed. The most notable of these is the silkworm, the larva of the domesticated moth Bombyx mori. It is farmed for silk used to build its cocoon.
MORE MOTH FACTS:
The Atlas Moth, of Southeast Asia, considered the largest in the world, has a wingspan of nearly a foot. Their wingspans are amongst the largest, reaching over 25 cm or 10 in. Females are larger and heavier. They have a wingspan of up to 12 inches (31 cm), giving them the biggest wingspan. The Royal Walnut Moth has a wingspan of about 4.5 inches.
The Death’s-head Hawk moths are distinguishable by the vaguely human skull-shaped pattern of markings on the thorax. They can emit a loud squeak if irritated that is produced by expelling air from the pharynx and by flashing the brightly colored abdomen in a further attempt to deter predators. Species are observed raiding beehives of different species of honeybees for honey; A. atropos attacks colonies of the Western honey bee, Apis mellifera. They move about in hives without being disturbed because they mimic the scent of the bees.
Peppered moths rest on trees during the day, and are preyed on by birds. The female lays about 2,000 pale-green ovoid eggs about 1 mm in length into crevices in bark with her ovipositor. The caterpillar is a twig mimic, varying in color between green and brown.
Emperor gum moth caterpillars mature and change color each time they shed their skin (five stages in the caterpillar’s appearance). The grown caterpillars are found on the highest branches of the host tree where leaves are youngest and easiest to digest. When the caterpillar is fully mature it spins a dark brown silken cocoon on a branch that usually has a leaf to protect it.
The most notable feature of the Polyphemus moth (sphinx moth) is its large, purplish eyespots on its two hind wings. The sphinx moth caterpillar rears up if disturbed.
Sphinx Moth
Polyphemus Caterpillar
The Gypsy moth is classified as a pest. Its larvae consume the leaves of over 300 species of trees, shrubs and plants. It is one of the most destructive pests of hardwood trees in the eastern United States. Gypsy moth larvae prefer oak trees, but may feed on many species of trees and shrubs, both hardwood and conifers.
Flour Moth
The Indian Meal Moth or flour moth has common names such as North American High-flyer, Weevil Moth, Pantry Moth, flour moth or “grain moth. Its caterpillars are known as “wax worms”, but not the wax worms bred as animal food. They are a common grain-feeding pest found around the world, feeding on cereals and similar products.
The codling moth is known as an agricultural pest, their larva being the common apple worm or maggot.. It is found almost worldwide. It attacks pears, walnuts, and other tree fruits. Light brown apple moth adults are variable in color and may be confused with other leafroller moths and similar species.
Silkmoths – The silkworm is the caterpillar of the domesticated silkmoth, Bombyx mori (“silkworm of the mulberry tree”). It is an economically important insect, being a primary producer of silk. A silkworm’s preferred food is white mulberry leaves, but it may eat the leaves of any mulberry tree as well as the Osage orange. It is dependent on humans for its reproduction, as it does not occur naturally in the wild. Sericulture (breeding silkworms for the production of silk) has been done for 5,000 years in China, from where it spread to Korea and Japan, and later to India and the West. The silkworm was domesticated from the wild silk moth.
Wax worms are the caterpillar larvae of wax moths. They are medium-white caterpillars with black-tipped feet and small, black or brown heads. They live as nest parasites in bee colonies and eat cocoons, pollen, and shed skins of bees. They chew through beeswax, thus the name. Beekeepers consider wax worms a pest. Galleria mellonella (the greater wax moths) don’t attack the bees directly but feed on the wax.
Vampire moths of Asia feed on the eye liquids of cattle, deer, and elephants.
The bean moth lays egg inside seeds, the caterpillar eats the seed food and develops the Pupa, the Mexican jumping bean.
The hummingbird moth and hawkmoth are strong flyers active day or night.
The wooly bear caterpillar tells the weather. If the brown band is wide it will be a mild Winter! In the Arctic, moths spend their time mostly as caterpillars. The Arctic wooly-bear only molts 6 times over 14 years and spends only a brief time as an adult.
The inchworms of the geometer moth are found where oak trees grow.
The owlet moth is a winter moth and feeds on sap from injured trees. They shelter in leaf litter. They shiver to generate heat and have hairy insulation.
The CECROPIA moth has a 6” wingspan.
Cephalopod is the name given to the Squids and Octopus. Ancient Cephalopods often had hard shells that could be straight or spiral and came in elaborate shapes, sizes, designs and colors. They varied in sizes of less than 1/4 in diameter to several feet in diameter. The three main groups of fossil cephalopod remains found are Nautiloids, Ammonites and Belimites.
The Oldest Fish Fossils – The oldest fish fossils on record were found at Chengjiang, in Yunnan Province, China. Two species have been found dating from about 530 million years ago. Haikouichthys ercaicunensis, and Myllokunmingia fengjiaoa, are recent finds. If verified these finds will rewrite the fish chapter of evolution.
Brachiopods are benthic (bottom dwelling), marine (ocean), bivalves (having two shells). They are considered living fossils, with 3 orders present in today’s oceans. They are rare today but during the Paleozoic Era they dominated the sea floors.
Carcharodon Megalodon was a giant shark that lived during the Miocene and Pliocene epochs of the Cenozoic Era, between 2 million and 16 million years ago. Little is known about these giant predators because all that remains of their existence are fossilized teeth. These giant shark teeth range in size from 3 inches long to 7 inches long. They are massive things that can be bigger than a man’s hand.
The Gypsy moth is classified as a pest. Its larvae consume the leaves of over 300 species of trees, shrubs and plants. It is one of the most destructive pests of hardwood trees in the eastern United States. Gypsy moth larvae prefer oak trees, but may feed on many species of trees and shrubs, both hardwood and conifers.
Silkmoths – The silkworm is the caterpillar of the domesticated silkmoth, Bombyx mori (“silkworm of the mulberry tree”). It is an economically important insect, being a primary producer of silk. A silkworm’s preferred food is white mulberry leaves, but it may eat the leaves of any mulberry tree as well as the Osage orange. It is dependent on humans for its reproduction, as it does not occur naturally in the wild. Sericulture (breeding silkworms for the production of silk) has been done for 5,000 years in China, from where it spread to Korea and Japan, and later to India and the West. The silkworm was domesticated from the wild silk moth.
Wax worms are the caterpillar larvae of wax moths. They are medium-white caterpillars with black-tipped feet and small, black or brown heads. They live as nest parasites in bee colonies and eat cocoons, pollen, and shed skins of bees. They chew through beeswax, thus the name. Beekeepers consider wax worms a pest. Galleria mellonella (the greater wax moths) don’t attack the bees directly but feed on the wax.
