Did you know?

Hi Everyone!

Did you know...
We, humans, kill over a 500,000 sharks each year, yet they only kill about 50 to 60 people.
80% of the worlds forest are gone
200,000 people a day are moving to cities from environments that no longer support them
It is estimated that by October the human population will reach 7 billion
The world is already losing an estimated 137 species each day
Humans encroach on animals habitats, pollute their habitats and steal their food, and when they, in desperate need of a home and food, come closer to humans, we kill them.
75% of global fisheries have been fished beyond capacity
The ocean is the largest carbon sink on this planet, however, it has reached it's capacity to take in carbon.
Coral reefs are being bleached and corroding away because of the high acidification in the ocean
More then 60% of the worlds known organisms are at risk of extinction
If there isn't major change in human habits within the next 15 years, we will never be able to save the environment
DDT is a very harmful pesticide. It was banned for agriculture throughout the world, however, in many places it is used for disease control (especially malaria in africa). It is very bad for the environment, thins egg shells, spreads throughout environments and causes many problems. We know all its affects, however, the US still ships it overseas.

Basically, the environment is just one sad fact after another. This means we have to do more to help. There will continue to be more and more sad facts coming from nature unless we do something to fix it.

I know it's hard to get involved sometimes. Life is busy and "helping the environment" doesn't usually pay the bills. But just do the small things. Turn off lights when you don't need them, bring cloth bags to the grocery store so you don't need to use plastic ones. If you forget, simply use the plastic bags again. Ride your bike or carpool with friends when you can.

Hope you enjoyed this nature chat,
Talk to you soon,
KZ

Tickling Slow Loris

Hi Everyone!

I love almost all animals, whether they be the cutest things or they are breathtaking creatures that make me stop and stare. However, like most people, adorable creatures make me smile like a little child. That's why these rotate as my screen savers

It is also the reason why, when I'm bored I look at animal pictures and vidoes. Recently, I have watched "tickling slow loris" (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g9f-6jygRJk&safety_mode=true&persist_safety_mode=1) at least every day for the past month. He is the sweetest thing, but, sadly, he is endangered.

Part of me just wants to grab him up and act like a complete idiot while I talk to him, tickling his belly and patting his head. But the other part of me wants to say, people stop buying these creatures they belong in the wild. They are already in peril they don't need the wildlife trade to hinder them further. It's one of those things where it is tough to think clearly and think of what is right for these creatures. But I know I'd rather have them alive in the wild and not as pets. 

I'm not going to into much detail on wildlife trade right now, but it's a terrible thing, regardless of if it's illegal or not. Yes everyone loves exotic pets, but, we're not meant to have exotic pets. We are not supposed to domestically bread animals in the US that live in Africa. Though it's cool and very popular right now, just think of the animals. It impacts more than just the one you own, it will affect the entire ecosystem. It may bring a disease that you catch or another pet of yours catches and it spread. Or, other people will see it and want one, go out and buy it and thus the trade is fueled. Mostly I just wanted to tell you about the slow loris.

I hope you enjoyed this nature chat.
Stay tuned for more,
KZ

Ramblings of Nature

Hi Everyone!

I was thinking about what to write about. I pondered with talking about the Tasmanian Devil (because it's endangered) but I will save that for another time. I haven't read many environmental books lately and projects to help the environment sound really cliche, or at least the ones I come up with. Rather, as the title suggests, I will simply reveal my musing on the subject of the environment.

Some people don't like nature. Or rather, they are not educated enough to know the truth and therefore, claim they don't like the environment. (If only they knew we wouldn't be living like we are today with the environment providing for us day and night). But, most people (at least somewhere in their hearts) like nature. They smile when they see wildlife, at least when they see the cute fuzzy animals and the intense breathtaking creatures like tigers and bears. However, it's how much people care about nature where the lines get hazy. People like it, they like what they get from it, but they aren't willing to do anything in return for mother nature. I simply don't understand it. How, how on earth, can people that claim to love nature, and still go along with the treacherous and evil acts that humans push upon the environment every day. Even if these 'nature lovers' don't support what is occurring to mother nature, they aren't doing anything to help her. It's like watching a bully beat up a kid for his lunch money and then say how awful it is, the bully should be punished. Well, you didn't do anything, so you are just as bad as the bully.

I'm not that great of an example for environmental lovers, but I try. Yes, I'm in high school and I have come to terms that my schedule does not permit me to really make a huge difference. I can make small differences in my community and possibly other communities but nothing major. But you see, I want to become a conservation biologist. This is what I want to do for the rest of my life, and I think that's a good step for me to repay mother nature. Basically what I'm trying to say is if you love nature, do something to help it. If you, for whatever reason can't, simply refrain from saying I love the environment (because, in most cases, if you can't do the simple things to help, like recycling your plastics and newspapers, you do not have much respect of love for nature. Maybe that is harsh, however, it's, put simply, annoying to go throughout my life, especially in school, and be surrounded by people that like hiking, like the earth's creatures, like everything about nature but can't walk ten feet to put their bottles in the recycling.

What brought up this idea in my mind is the recent developments in the tar sands in Canada. They want to to  construct the Keystone XL, a 1,700 mile pipeline from the Canadian tar sands to refineries on the Gulf of Mexico. First of all, tar sands are messy. Utilizing and processing tar sands is one of the dirtiest actions in all of the energy realm. It's terrible for the surrounding area, it destroys vast amounts of land and kills ecosystems. The pipeline will disrupt and probably destroy at least 1700 miles of United States land. The environment will be tainted, animals will lose their homes, be killed in the process, plants will be disturbed and trees cut down, water supplies will most likely become polluted from run off and direct pollution from the construction. The list goes on and on about why this is bad. There have been many rallies, protests, etc against this construction. People know it's affects, they know what it will cause yet the question is still up in the air whether it will be built. I was listening to a pro-keystone XL person on TV last night and I just wanted to scream at them and smack some sense into their head. He kept repeating how this will be a cheap way to get oil, how it won't do much harm, and more lies. To my astonishment, the State Department announced that this construction will NOT have a major environmental impact. What? Are you kidding me? It's one thing to want this (stupid) pipeline, it's another to blatantly lie! This, this is what annoys me every single day and it kills me to not be able to do anything.

But alas, I will cease my ramblings here, or else risk going on forever :)
Random picture time:

(baby Sumatran rhino) I think it's one of the cutest things ever

Baby Pygmy hippo

Slow Loris! (I actually got to see one the other day at a sanctuary)

I could just keeping going and going with all the amazing, cute and endangered species pictures. But, my point is, wouldn't you want to save the earth just to see these creatures living peacefully? I sure would.

I hope you enjoyed this nature chat.
Stay tuned for more,
KZ

Did you know, African Wild Dog's are ENDANGERED

Hi Everyone!

I have thinking about which species I was going to talk about today and I decided upon the African Wild dog. One reason I chose them was because I recently did a project on these amazing creatures, but I also want to talk about them because not many people know enough about them. I am a cheetah lover (it's always been my favorite animal) and I used to always research everything and anything about them, including where they live. Though the African Wild dog doesn't (usually) live in the same areas as Cheetah's because they both live in similar habitats I would learn small tid bits about them. I thought they were okay, I had the idea that they were aggressive and almost like hyenas (which are both false). But, I didn't know anything past that. Then, a month ago, I was looking through the IUCN Red List of Endangered Species and there the African Wild Dog was. What? That can't be, I thought they were so common. But alas, no. Their numbers have been small for many many years and they continually becoming less abundant. I also learned what truly intelligent and adorable creatures they are. So, here I begin (sorry if it is long, I have so much I want to share with you).

   

Their latin name means "painted wolf-like animal" and they are also called: Cape hunting dog, painted hunting dog, spotted African dog.

The Basics:

Height 2.5 to 5 feet

Weight: 40 to 75 pounds

Bushy tail with a white tip

Only four toes on the front feet (most canids have five)

Large rounded ears

Each dog has a unique coloration pattern

Yellow, black, white gray coloring

Used for identification because no two wild dogs are marked exactly the same

Great endurance and thin, muscular body,

Long legs

            Improves their speed (able to run 30 mph for over three miles)

Strong jaw and sharp teeth (second strongest biting force in the world)

Very good eyesight

They live about 11 years and in captivity 15

One litter per year (average of 10 pups)

This species used to live in sub-Saharan Africa. But now they are found in fragmented populations throughout southern and eastern Africa (the largest populations exist in Botswana, Kenya, Mozambique, South Africa, Tanzania, Zambia and Zimbabwe)

They hunt in the dawn and dusk of the day and in groups. They are able to take down large prey and have a high success rate (often estimated at 70 to 90%) (impressive huh?) I won't go into detail with this (we would be here all day if I did) but the African Wild Dog has a "ceremony" before each hunt called the meet. Basically it is waking up the whole pack and getting them excited for hunting, then they run off together. They will most often hunt medium sized antelope species.

These dogs are highly sociable and can't exist alone. They live in packs ( average 5 to 15 dogs) and get along with each other very well: searching for a lost member for days, pacifying each other with actions (sometimes like those that domestic dogs do when they want food or a belly rub), and help the wounded members by feeding them and licking the wounds.

          Fun pack facts:

          All members of the same sex are related!

          Only the dominant female and male will breed

          If another female becomes pregnant, the alpha female may steal the pups to raise as her own

Random facts:

Though they are hunters, lions and the spotted hyena are their predators.

Chemical communication through scent marking is the most common way for the dogs to recognize pack boundaries

The hoot of a lost African wild dog can be heard by humans from as far away as 2.5 miles

They are nomads when it's not breeding season and their home ranges can be up to 3000 miles

The sad truth

Maybe I didn't do these amazing creatures justice, because if I were to go into full detail with all my facts, you wouldn't want to read it :) but these animals are important. They keep the populations and ecosystems in balance, they deserve to be here and isn't it impressive how they work together, how they hunt, how they live? If this creature can do that, imagine what else we can learn from them. They are endangered, and have been for years. This is in part due to a various number of diseases like Canine distemper. Habitat loss and human encroachment also hurts their populations, as well as, humans killing them (intentionally and accidentally).

The numbers:

3,000–5,500 free-ranging wild dogs remain in Africa and less than 2,500 are mature individuals

And only about 500 in captivity (zoos, private ownership)

 We need to change these numbers. Sadly, there aren't many ways to help right now, but people are trying more and more to save these creatures. In this project I was involved with, we formulated some ways to help, other than what has been put in place. I'm not going to list them, if you want to know more please just leave a comment and I will give you my email address. I do want to stress that the easiest way to help is simply telling people. Maybe you knew everything I just said or mabye you didn't even know such a canine existed, but now you do. So just pass one fact onto your friends or parents or teachers. The more people that know, the more that

care and the more that will help.

I hope you enjoyed this nature chat. Go search African Wild Dog pups (they are really cute)
Stay tuned for more,
KZ

 

Alas, where has the time gone

Hello Everyone!

I have been busy this summer, hence the reason for my lack of posts. First it was my volunteering. I dearily loved working at the national zoo but my, after my day I was tired. I love kids and the other odd assortment of people that filtered through the invertabrate house, but it was exhausting. So many questions, so many school groups with little kids, so many hot humid days. To be honest, when the days were slow we would make up invertabrate jokes.
What is the most romantic creature in this exhibit? the cuddlefish.
Why are our spiders so high tech? because they are web based spiders
And there are many more :)

And then, there was volunteering at the national aquarium. Even though it's in the bottom of the commerce buidling and I constantly get "there is a national aquarium in dc?" I love that place. I get to talk to kids about endangered species, answer all the visitors questions, bring out carts with shark teeth and jaws, with alligator purses (telling people it's wrong to buy this!), with snake skin and skulls. I get to stare at my favorite animals (the posion dart frogs, horn shark, octopus and loggerhead turtles) to my hearts content. I get to meet really amazing people (young and old) that impress me and teach me something. I could ramble on for days with how much I love that place.

Then there was Cornell. To put it simply I took a conversation biology course for three weeks at Cornell University. It was an eye opening expierence that made me want to pursue this career (teaching about and helping the environment) even more, which I didn't think possible.

And that brings me to my last, non fun non environmental task: college applications. This combined with all my summer homework, has bogged down my life since August 1st when the common application opened. Every second I don't have something to do I am in the library (as I am right now) working on my essays (which I am taking a break from with this blog). I blame this for my lack of writing. I mean, after writing all day and becoming overly frustrated with my inability to convey anything, I just don't even want to think about writing more :)

I will, my fellow environmentalists or just curious humans, write more soon. I have so many ideas for topics to discuss (rhinos, pygmy hippos, slow loris etc.) But right now I must bang my head against the table and try to bring to life my voice so that I can pursue my dreams in college :)

I hope you enjoyed this nature chat.
Stay tuned for more,
KZ

Encounters with the Archdruid

Hello Everyone!

Today I am going to talk about a book I have recently read named Encounters with the Archdruid. It was written in 1971 by John McPhee.

Honestly, I probably would have never read the book but I had a book report due for my Environmental Science class and my parents owned the book. Now, I really recommend the book to anyone. If you are older than 10, the book is an easy read, it's interesting and it touches upon many key aspects of the conservation of nature. (But, you don't have to be interested in the topic to enjoy the book!)

Basically the book is centered around this idea of what is "wilderness" and the continual question: does it need to exist? David Brower, who was a major environmentalist and did much for the preservation of the US wilderness, is a main character in this non fiction book and hid ideas are juxtaposed against three non-preservationists.  The author does seem to agree with David Brower that wilderness is necessary, however, he presents the oppositions views well and in a non-negative light. (Wilderness is often defined as areas of land left untouched by man, equipment, and let alone to evolve on its own. It is 'an uncultivated, uninhabited, and inhospitable region').

Having finished the book a few days ago, I have been thinking about the positions the book expressed. Personally, I feel that having wilderness is really important, just like Brower. My grandparents live in Washington state and every year I visit them. They live on the edge of this huge forest, where no one can build houses/buildings or disturb the area. I love gazing at the stars from within the forest and just walking around and breathing it all in. Though the trees have been disturbed in the past, right now no humans, unless on foot, can access it. It is so peaceful and beautiful. I could live in that woods forever and never stop loving it, never get enough of it. We also always go hiking in the virgin forests (meaning never cut down forests) of Washington. The feeling is breathtaking. I sometimes just stop and look up at the hovering tree branches. They are layered with mist and seem to whisper the tales of the past (if that makes sense). When I try to describe it to people that have never experienced pure nature, I can't. You have to witness magnificent untouched nature in order to understand what I am saying.

 

 

(I actually took these pictures!) 

So, I love nature and wilderness and am a complete advocate for preserving and conversing it. But it amazes how many people aren't. Or, they love nature, but don't see the importance in keeping it pristine. It makes no sense to me, nor will it probably ever. But then again I think I care more about nature than about humans. Don't take that the wrong way, but I feel that the environment has no voice and deserves so much more than what we are doing for it. Humans are often selfish and greedy and rude beings, so we don't deserve to be helped before nature. I mean, we have done so much bad in the world and we don't want to help anything but ourselves, yet we continually demand more and more out of the things around us. So, my preference goes to nature.

I think I may talk about this topic/book again but right now my original trail of thought has ended.

I hope you enjoyed this nature chat.
Stay tuned for more,
KZ

Happy World Environment Day!

Hello Everyone!

Did you know June 5th is World Environment Day? I sure didn't until yesterday and I'm usually aware of major nature days. I guess it shows people aren't spreading the word enough...

World Environment Day was created to mark the day that the UN conference on the Human Environment began. It was first on June 5th, 1973 and it also celebrate the establishment of the United Nations Environment Program (UNEP). This day is hosted by a different city with a different theme every year. This year the theme is: Forests-Nature At Your Service (because 2011 is year of the forest) and it is hosted by Bac Kan, Vietnam. Basically it is a day, like Earth Day, to increase public awareness, political attention and public action.

I know, I know. You may not care about why this day was started or even that it exists but I think this day, after researching it, is especially important because it is an international cause. The nations of the world are dedicated to this day and get involved, which is impressive.



So, do something environmentally friendly and spread the word!


I hope you enjoyed this (short) nature chat.
Stay tuned for more,
KZ

Ellie the Elephant

Hello Everyone!

Today I'm going to talk about elephants, the adorable, gentle creatures that make me smile. Let's start with the basics.

(Doesn't that just make you smile?)

They are the world's largest animal
Two types of elephant: African and Asia
African elephants inhabit the savannah's south of the Sahara Desert, and rain forests of west and central Africa.
Asian elephants are inhabit India, Sri Lanka, China and much of Southeast Asia
Length of life: Up to 70 years old
Weight: 6,000 to 15,000 pounds (wow, they are big)
Diet: Grasses, leaves, bamboo, bark, roots, banana and sugarcane,
Adult elephants can consume 300-400 pounds of food per day.
When elephants drink, they can suck in up to 2 gallons of water.
Elephants don't have bones in their trunk, just muscle
Number of offspring: 1 calf (which will weight 200-250 pounds at birth!)
They are very intelligent and social animals
The patterns on an elephant's ear are unique and they use their ears to express emotion.
Now that you know all about elephants, let's talk about how in trouble these amazing creatures are. Fair warning, the rest may not be for the squeamish at heart.

This species is in serious trouble, all elephants are endangered. They are killed every day, which is an awful truth. The worst part, we, humans, are the reason for it all. Not just because we are taking away their habitat or polluting their earth, we are directly, inhumanely, killing their gentle gaints. Back in 2007, The Time said that

"23,000 elephants killed each year for ivory".

The rate has increased even more in these last four years. Elephants are killed for one reason: their tusks. Greedy, evil people want to get rich so they kill these animals and sell the ivory tusks. Most of ivory tusks are traded in the black market. Elephants are also killed, on a smaller scale, for their meat. In addition, poachers aren't the only ones hunting these animals. People do it for fun, for a prize. Americans travel to Africa and take safari's that allow them to kill these animals. (Why aren't we condemning this?)
Even killing just one or two from a family, which is rare because most poachers kill the entire family at a time. Poachers kill the older elephants because their tusks are larger. This leaves the younger elephants without parents. Sometimes, the poachers don't spend the time to kill the elephant, they just cut off its tusks and leave the animals in pain and forever damaged. Many die within months after their tusks are cut off due to infection and inability to provide for themselves.

Poachers just cut off this elephant to rot after they took it's tusks.
(The men in the picture are anit-poachers, trying to stop this injustice).

  

There are many other pictures on the Internet, but they are just too gruesome. I was looking through some and it is just horrid and heartbreaking what is occurring to these beautiful creatures. I feel so bad that I'm not doing sometimes about it, that I am not stopping it right now, and at first, when I was younger, I couldn't look at the photos. I refused to see these animals killed or mutilated. I would look away, I wouldn't think about it because I felt so bad for these creatures. But then one day I unwillingly saw the awful pictures of the elephants head cut off (above) and I just stopped. I think I might have started crying and I didn't know what to do. I was angry at the people who did this and then I was angry at myself because I was turning away from it. I was being a coward. I was pretending that if I didn't see it, then the killings wouldn't be occuring. But these animals, and many more, are killed every day, whether I admit it or not.  So, I started researching the topic and looking at these pictures, even though it pained me. In 8th grade, I did an entire project on illegal wildlife trade. Part of the presentation included showing pictures of dead elephants and tigers and the bloody remains. My class was shocked. They didn't know this was occurring. They had heard about it, but never actually seen it. For 8th graders, I guess its okay for the majority to not know these actions are occurring. However, it's not okay that the majority of the world is unaware or, if they are aware, not doing anything about it. By not doing about it, by not focusing on this emotional topic, by not protecting these creatures and stopping the trade, we are just as bad the poachers. We aren't holding the guns and the knifes that kill the animals, but we aren't taking them away either.  

I was googling elephant killings and injustices and stumbled upon this article. I would highly recommend reading it. Personally, I found it disguting and pathetic that we care so little about the earth that we kill its creatures just because, just to say we could.

http://j-walkblog.com/index.php?/weblog/posts/woman_kills_elephant/

You can help by donating money. You can help by adopting a herd or single elephant. You can help by sending letters to environmental agencies. But the best thing you can do is teach people. This cause touches my heart and hopefully it has touched yours. However, poeple just don't know about these creatures so teach them. Elephants could face extinction by 2020. In nine years don't you want to be able to see elephants in the wild. I sure do. I want to see them, I want my kids to see them, I want their kids to see them.

I hope you enjoyed this nature chat.
Stay tuned for more,
KZ

The Environment

Hello Everyone!


This nature chat I'm mixing it up a little. I'll go back to talking about plants and animals later but right now I am just going to talk about my ideas and knowledge. I am a science nerd and hope to spend my life dedicated to science but I am also a writer. Yes it is an odd combination but it allowed me to write this blog and convey the importance of nature, and the organisms in it, to you guys.

When I was little I would created letters to the president. I would climb up my tree, with my cassette player clipped to my shorts and paper and markers tucked under my chin. I would fold the paper in half (hot dog style) and, every time, draw the earth on the front with my blue and green markers. On the inside I would write something like "Dear Mr. President, please save our earth. It needs our help. Kimi" in black marker. I never did anything with them except stuff them in a drawer. Recently I found one stuffed between yearbooks. It brought up childhood memories and made me smile but it also reminded me of something important. I always tried to help the earth, even from a young age, but I never really did anything. Yes, I wrote those letters and I wanted to help but I wasn't changing anything I wasn't starting anything important. I guess that's all I could have done at age five but now I'm 16, I should be doing something now. It's no longer okay for me to try to help, I must help. That's no different from everyone else. At first one can only try to help
and learn about the cause. This "stage" may take a year or two or even five but then it is time to move on. Then it is time to actually start doing something, even if it is small.

As a teenager my life is busy with school, college applications, sports, etc., but this isn't an excuse, it's more of a limitation. I don't have a lot of time to dedicate to nature, so I found something that doesn't take that much time each day. I teach people. This blog is one way I do that. I mean, even if only one person reads it, I have taught someone. Now that person can go and teach another person, and slowly a chain reaction has started. It's simple and effective and it is pretty easy. But I don't just teach on my blog, I teach my friends, my parents, sometimes even people I hardly know. Weaving environmental activism and little nature facts here and there into conversations is fun. I like sharing my knowledge and ideas with people. Maybe they won't always be interested in what I am saying but eventually some of it will be retained and maybe they will pass it onto other people.

What I am trying to say, I guess, is that helping the environment will take time, it will be a hard process. But we, as a community, as a nation, as a world, need to get past this "trying to help" phase we are caught in. We've allowed ourselves to flounder in the response of "what can I do? I'm only one person" and nothing has happened. We have take action and everyone can help by spreading the word. People don't know about the issues, people don't know what is occurring, people just aren't informed.

For years, people have been protesting, spreading the word, getting organized, changing how we live and dedicating their lives to helping the environment. People have gone to the extremes, written books and poems, and taught the public what they believe and have learned. I'm not saying we all need to dedicate our entire lives to this cause, because not everyone can or needs to. I'm saying that we all just need to get involved, be aware and do what we can.

I hope you enjoyed this nature chat.
Stay tuned for more,
KZ

Plants (the carnivorous kind)

Hello Everyone!

Today I am going to talk about plants. I know plants aren't considered as "cool" as animals, but that is a lie. They are really cool, especially the Pitcher plant (Nepenthes macrophylla).
  
Where they live: only on the summit of a mountain on the island of Borneo (South East Asia)
Life length: at least three years
Diet: invertebrates ants, cockroaches, centipedes, flies and beetles
Number of seeds produces: 100 to 500 seeds

With their bright color and nectar, the plants draw insects into them, the insects then fall into the acidic liquid and drown.

They have spikes around their edges.

They differ in color, though the yellow body is the more common than the red.

They are endangered.

Habitat loss, because of logging and increased farming, has really hurt the number of plants.  

How To Help:

• Help save the rainforests of Borneo. Check out this website for interesting tips and information: http://borneo.live.radicaldesigns.org/index.php
• If you have the right environment/supplies grow this plant at home. Make sure you know what you are doing and be responsible. 
• Educate. I know I say this every time, but it is true. The more people that know about these plants, the more they care and will help.
• Get yourself and others interested in plants. People are always paying attention to animals but plants just don't get the same attention, and they need it. You may not be interested in meat eating plants (like me) but I'm sure there is a plant out there that YOU will love and you wouldn't want that plant to disappear just because people didn't know about it.

That's the Pitcher Plant. I hope you enjoyed this nature chat.
Stay tuned for something new,
KZ.

Frogs!

Hello everyone!

I was recently thinking up animals/plants to talk about and decided I would choose the Poison Dart Frog. The idea came to me when I was cleaning up my room. I have saved a lot of my school work, especially from elementary school. Well in first grade, when I was at MSNV, I wrote this "paper" on Frogs. It was simple, had a lot of pictures, and made me smile. So, we will learn about these frogs.

(I've been a real nature girl since I was little. I have many plastic poison dart frogs and the blue was always my favorite).
Where they live: Mostly in the rainforests of Central and South America
Length of life: About 1-3 years (though sometimes for 10 years)
Weight: 0.2 to 6 grams
Diet: Small insects, such as crickets and fruit flies
They produce: 8-10 eggs
When do they lay eggs: during the summer (rainy season)
Not all poison dart frogs are deadly. Plus, only three species are deadly to humans.
Some poison dart frogs are endangered because their habitat is being destroyed.
They are called poison dart frogs because some native tribes have used them to poison their darts.
In captivity poison dart frogs are not poisonous.
The blue poison dart frog (seen above) was only discovered in 1968
A group of frogs is sometimes called an army.

What you can do:

• Spread the word. Frogs, like many other small and less known organisms, don't get the attention they need. By talking about frogs and teaching others, awareness starts. Then more action will be taken to help.
• Don't waste paper, food or any materials for that matter. Rainforests are being cut down to provide more food, wood and space for humans. Frogs are losing their habitat because of this.
• Reduce, reuse, and recycle.
• Check out the Save The Frogs website. It is America's only public charity helping protect frogs and other amphibians of the world. They have a great list of 50 things YOU can do to help. (link:  http://www.savethefrogs.com/)
• Become a part of the Rainforest Action Network. They are a really cool website that is a helping save our rainforests. Plus, there is great information there.

That's the Posion Dart Frog. I hope you enjoyed that nature chat.
Stay tuned for more,
KZ.

Cheetahs, cheetahs, cheetahs.

Hello, everyone.
Are we ready to talk to nature? Let's go.

Our first animal: the Cheetah (because it is amazing).

Facts:
Where they live: Africa in savannas and open woodlands
Length of life: 10 to 12 years
Weight: 88-143 pounds
Diet: meat (gazelles, antelope, hares)
Their babies are called: cubs
How many cubs in each litter: 2 to 5
Males are slightly larger than females
Cubs stay with their mothers until they are 12 to 20 months old.
They only need to drink once every three to four days
They can't climb trees
Why they are cool: they are the fastest land mammal. They can run as fast as 60 to 70 miles per hour! (That's like cars on a highway).
Sad fact: Only 7000 to 12000 remain in the world.
They are considered threatened

What can you do?
Many people say we should all help save the environment, get involved, donate. But as a high school student, I know its hard, especially kids. We don't have money to give. We can't join groups and organizations because we are (mostly) to young. We don't have a big voice. But there are ways for everyone to help.

For kids:

• If you have Facebook, you should play Wildlife Refuge. The Cheetah Conservation Fund encourages it. Show your friends, get the word out. It raises awarness. Link: http://www.facebook.com/apps/application.php?id=100587823340171)
• Go to the Zoo. It's fun and helps the cause.
• Spread the word. Cheetah's are beautiful creatures yet many people don't know they are in danger of extcintion.
• Talk to your parents. See if you can become a member of the zoo close to you. See if you can "adopt" a Cheetah online. (You won't actually adopt them, but you can give money to help save them, you can often see them on webcams, or get information on how they are doing). Good places to go for that are the National Zoo website, Cheetah Conversation Fund.
• Talk to your teachers. See if you can do a lesson about cheetahs, or other threatened species. Think up ways your class can help in school.

For others:

• Donate to World Wildlife Fund or to other organizations that help Cheetahs and other species. Link:(https://secure2.convio.net/wwf/site/SPageServer?pagename=donate_to_charity&s_src=AWE1100GD000)
• Become a member of your local zoo or wildlife organization. (Usually you get a cool bumper sticker too).
• There are many ways to help but the easiest is just be more environmentally friendly. Recycle, don't waste food, water, and energy, don't buy materials made out of endagered animals (elephant tusks, tiger skins, cheetah skins etc.), and spread the word. The only way to truly solve our environmental problems is get everyone involved by teaching and just talking about it.

Well, that's it. My first blog article done. Hope you enjoyed that nature chat.
Stay tuned for more,
KZ.