Thrifty Scissors: July 2020

Friday, July 31, 2020

Flying Squirrel: 6 Facts About

A flying squirrel is called a tagalog in India.

A flying squirrel is a curious little squirrel which does not really fly, but which can glide downward through the air with a movement similar to flight.

6 Facts About Flying Squirrels:

It accomplishes "flight" by means of an extension of its fur-covered skin on each side of its body, between its fore and hind legs. The little animal runs to the top of a tree, leaps out, spreading its legs and at the same time stretching out this side skin, which resists the air like a parachute. In this position the squirrel can glide sixty feet through the air but only in a downward direction.
These animals are nocturnal in their habits, sleeping during the day and roaming the woods for food at night.
They feed on nuts and leaf buds, and also on the eggs of birds and even the young, when obtainable.
The common flying squirrel of the eastern part of the United States is about five inches long, exclusive of its bushy tail.
It has bright black eyes and soft fur, which is grayish on the upper and white on the underneath side of the body.
The tagalog, the large flying squirrel of India, is sometimes called the flying marmot or flying cat.

How the flying Squirrel Soars by Nature on PBS.

Fox Terrier

The illustration is that of the more
popular smooth-coated terrier;
some have hair that is hard and wiry.

The fox terrier is a small dog with long, flat and rather narrow head, strong jaws and small V-shaped ears. It has become almost universally a household pet, especially in America, Canada and England. The nose is black, the eyes small and the body strong.

The color is usually white, with black or tan markings. The fox terrier was formerly used to drive

foxes from their holes, hence the name. These dogs live about fifteen years, and their weight averages twenty pounds. The illustration is that of the more popular smooth-coated terrier; some have hair that is hard and wiry.

More About Fox Terriers From The Web:

Fox

The fox is an animal belonging to the same family as the dog and the wolf. It is one of the smaller members of the family, and is famed for its cunning. From this trait has come the term, applied to a person, whether complimentary or otherwise, that he is "as sly as a fox." The stories told of the animal's intelligence in eluding its enemies, in protecting its young and in securing its food are sometimes so strange as to be almost beyond belief. The fox is a native of almost every part of the globe and is everywhere known as the most wily of beasts of prey.

It has a straight, bushy tail, erect ears and is extremely alert and avaricious, devouring birds and small quadrupeds, fruits, honey and eggs. The fox's home is a dry burrow or hole in the rock, and usually consists of an outer hole, or room, where the fox lies, a store room, where he keeps his food, and behind all, his sleeping room and the place where his family lives. When the fox is captured he will sometimes feign death and will endure the roughest treatment without flinching.

More About Foxes From The Web:

Thursday, July 30, 2020

Paper Silhouette Camel Cuts

Paper Camel Cuts for teachers and students to use in the classroom or in art projects. The center one has a rider.

Dolphin: 12 Facts

Fisherman saves stranded dolphin by Franna Fishing

A dolphin is an animal which forms the type of a family that includes, also, the porpoise and the narwhal.

12 Facts About Dolphins:

It inhabits every sea from the equator to the poles.
The common dolphin measures from six to ten feet in length and has a distinctive snout about a half foot long.
It is usually, black above, gray on the sides and white beneath.
Its flesh is coarse, rank and disagreeable, but it is used by the Laplanders as food.
The dolphins live on fish and mollusca, and often they may be seen in great numbers around shoals of herring.
They have to come to the surface at short intervals to breathe.
The structure of the ear renders the sense of hearing very acute, and the animals are observed to be attracted by regular or harmonious sounds.
Compactness and strength are the characteristics of these animals, and they swim with extraordinary velocity.
The dolphin is most common in the Mediterranean, but one species, the bottle-nosed, is caught on the coast of New Jersey.
Other species which are see off the coast of the United States are the black dolphin and the spotted dolphin.
The name is also commonly but improperly given to a fish of the mackerel family, which changes its colors when dying, and shows many beautiful shades.
In Greek mythology the dolphin was sacred to Apollo. Its image appeared on Greek coins and is said to have been represented on the shield of Ulysses.

More About Dolphins From The Web:

Diver: 7 Facts About

A diver is a water bird related to the grebe. The name is commonly applied to any bird that is a skillful diver.

7 Facts About The Diver:

The true divers live chiefly in the Arctic regions, that come south in winter.
The great northern diver and the red-throated diver are the most common species.
The former has a white breast and a black back and wings, marked by white spots that present a checkerboard appearance, while the head and neck are glossy black and green, the latter with a collar of white streaks.
The red-throated diver is duller in its coloring.
In Scotland this bird is called the rain goose, while in the United States and Canada the great northern diver is generally called the loon.
The loon migrates as far south as the Great Lakes, and most of the small lonely interior lakes of that latitude have one or two pairs of loons a season. Their cries are peculiarly noisy ones, some of their notes resembling rough, jeering laughter.
If suddenly startled, especially when they have young in charge, they go through the most astonishing antics on the surface and below the water, trying evidently to distract the attention of an enemy.

More About Diver Birds From The Web:

Eider Duck

The eider duck is a species of duck found both in America and Europe. The birds abound in Norway and Iceland, where their favorite haunts are solitary rocky shores and small islands. The eider duck is about twice the size of the common duck. The male is for the most part black, but has a white back and head, with a black crown. The female is reddish, and spotted with black, and has two white bands on the wings. The nests are usually formed of drift grass and dry seaweed and are lined with down, which the female plucks from her breast. Eider down because of its warmth and lightness was in great demand many years ago for beds and coverlets. One female produces about half a pound of down.

More About Eider Ducks from The Web:

Frog: 14 Fun Facts

A variety of frogs from a 1892 print.

A frog a small, tailless animal, belonging to the same class as toads, newts and salamanders.

14 Fun Facts About Frogs:

These creatures, the amphibians (which see), start life as water animals, and in a mature state can live both on land and in water.
Frogs differ from toads in having teeth and in possessing a less bulky body than their near kin (see Toad).
Frogs are common in all parts of the world except Australia and South America.
There are many species, and they inhabit widely different regions, but usually prefer swampy places and the shores of lakes and streams.
The young frog, which is known as the tadpole, bears no resemblance to the parent.
It has neither mouth nor limbs, but has branching gills and a long tail, with which it swims about.
Its body looks like a roundish lump of dark jelly.
But soon the mouth develops, the gills disappear and. as the days go on, the hind legs appear.
The fore legs follow, the tail is gradually absorbed and thus the animal changes into the frog.
It is an interesting transformation which any person may observe, if he will keep a few of the tadpoles where he can see them daily.
The mature frogs breathe by lungs and cannot live in water without coming to the surface for air.
They swim with great rapidity and move by long leaps, being able to jump many times their own length.
In the tadpole stage, frogs live chiefly on vegetable matter, but the mature frog lives on insects, slugs, snails and the like.
The flesh, especially that of the hind legs of certain species, is considered very choice food, and in France, particularly, frogs are bred for the market in large numbers.

More About Frogs From The Web:

sub-phyla of the Chordata: animals with a notechord.

Cardinal

A nesting pair of cardinals by Jo Alwood

The cardinal or redbird, a showy North American finch, with fine red plumage and a crested head. A black patch is conspicuous on each side of the bill. The cardinal whistles beautifully, and his clear, ringing note is a great favorite, especially in the Southern states, where the bird is often kept in captivity.

The birds are found in Southeastern Canada and in Eastern United States from New York to Florida. They are permanent residents of certain districts south of the Ohio River, and have been charmingly written about by James Lane Allen in his Kentucky Cardinal. They are easily tamed, and in city parks often learn to come to the call of people, who feed them with nuts.

More About Cardinals From The Web:

Ferret

The ferret is a flesh-eating animal, closely allied to the polecat, about fourteen inches in length, of a pale yellow color, with red eyes. It is a native of Africa, but has been introduced into America and Europe. It cannot, however, live long in a cold climate. Ferrets are used for hunting rabbits and for killing rats and mice. They rarely devour the animals which they attack, but kill them and suck their blood. Their slender bodies enable them to enter burrows, but unless muzzled the ferrets are apt to leave their victims behind after sucking their blood.

More About Ferrets From The Web:

Eland

Eland, the Dutch name for a large African antelope. It is the size of a full-grown horse. The animal is hunted for its hide, which is used for harness, and for its flesh, which is suitable for the table. It is gentle and easily captured, and consequently is threatened with extinction.

Africa's largest antelope, the eland by PHALANX47

Dormouse

Dormice are becoming rare.

A dormouse is a small rodent, common in Europe, its name means "sleepy one." These little animals inhabit temperate and warm countries and subsist entirely on vegetable food. Their pace is a kind of leap, but they have not the activity of squirrels. While feeding, they sit upright and carry the food to the mouth with their paws. The dormice pass the winter in a torpid state, reviving only for a short time on a warm, sunny day, when they take a little of their hoarded stores and then relapse into sleep. Among the different species are the fat dormouse and the garden dormouse.

More About Dormice From The Web:

Dipper

The dipper, a remarkable little singing bird, closely related to the thrushes, but resembling the wrens in appearance, especially in its up-tilted tail. It is covered with very close, water-proof plumage and lives about streams, often in the vicinity of waterfalls, into which it dashes in a perfectly fearless manner. At times it goes entirely through a cascade and finds in the crevices of the rocks back of the water, dry places where it can build its dome-shaped nests and rear its young. The dipper is a rather dark bird with a white breast, and as it moves about it jerks its tail upward and bobs its head downward. There are several species of dippers found in Asia, northern Europe and the high regions in the western parts of the United States and Canada.

Flounder

The flounder is one of the most common of the flat sea fishes, found along the shores of almost all countries. The body, which is extremely flattened at the sides, has the upper side dark and spotted and the under side white. Both eyes are on the upper side; and one is set lower than the other, giving the face a twisted appearance. The flounder is esteemed for its flesh.

Facts About Flounders by Deep Marine Scenes.

Duck-Billed Platypus

Platypus by the river's edge.

Platypus rolled up.

The duck-billed platypus also called ornithorynchus, the lowest of the mammals, a peculiar creature, living in the quiet streams of Australia, Tasmania and New Guinea. It is about twenty inches long, rather slender and covered with brown hair. Its head is small and instead of a nose it has a horny bill, resembling a duck's with nostrils, however, at the extreme end, enabling the animal to breathe with only the tip of his bill out of the water. The male has on each heel a sharp, horny spur, which he uses for defense. Duckbills usually live in large colonies in the banks of streams, each pair inhabiting its separate burrow. The food consists chiefly of insects and worms, which the animal comes out to get at night. On land, duckbills walk about very clumsily on their short legs and webbed feet, but in water they move very rapidly.

More About Platypus From The Web:

Sunday, July 26, 2020

Paper Church Silhouettes

These paper cuts or silhouettes of the front and back of a church, plus stained glass windows would look lovely in any Sunday School. I've restored them for students and teachers, enjoy.

Saturday, July 25, 2020

Egret

Egret, the name of a species of wood herons. The feathers on the rear part of the bird's back are long, reaching to the end of the tail, and even beyond at certain seasons. They are more beautiful than the feathers of the common heron. The American egret is about thirty-seven inches long, has soft plumage, a smooth head and twelve trailing feathers. It is one of the most beautiful of the native birds. In the past, the egrets have been so much hunted for their white flowing plumes, which women wear for ornament, that they were endangered. Laws now prohibit the wearing of egret feathers.

More About Egrets from The Web:

The Great Egret During Nesting Season

by Cornell Lab of Ornithology

Fish

Fish. Among the vertebrates (back-boned animals), the fish are lowest in order of intelligence, but among the most important from an economic standpoint. From earliest historic times men have used the flesh of fish as food, and today there is hardly a country in the world whose people do not include it in their diet.

How to fish swim in harmony? by TED-Ed

19 Characteristics of Fish:

Fish constitute the class Pisces, which is divided into about 13,000 species.
All are back-boned animals, living in water.
Notwithstanding the numerous species, fishes show a remarkable uniformity in appearance, for the greater number have elongated, compressed bodies, tapering toward both ends, with paired fins to take the place of limbs.
This form of body is well adapted to meet the pressure of water.
The body is generally covered with scales or bony plates, though a few species lack such covering.
With the exception of a small family of fresh-water fish, which possess both lungs and gills, fish breathe wholly by means of gills, which are designed to extract oxygen from the water.
They have cold, red blood, which is pumped through the system after being purified by passage through the gills.
The backbone is composed of vertebrae, and is so loosely jointed that the body can be turned and bent freely in all directions.
Fish possess in their air bladder, or swim bladder, an organ peculiar to themselves, which they are able to fill or empty at will. This bladder enables the fish the ability to control their buoyancy.
The skeletons of some families of fishes are not of bone, but of a strong, thick cartilage.
Geological investigations show that there have been many thousands of species of fish now wholly extinct, but those that survive are distributed throughout almost all the waters of the earth.
Those in temperate or tropical waters are more brilliantly colored and strikingly marked than the inhabitants of colder waters.
In most species the colors increase in intensity and beauty during the breeding season, much as the plumage of a bird grows bright.
Some fish feed on both animal and vegetable matter, others are flesh-eaters, and some eat only vegetable food.
They reproduce by eggs, these being laid in shallow water.
The eggs are usually left uncared for, though some species, like the stickleback, gather the eggs in nests and protect and care for their young.
Millions of eggs are laid by a single fish, but the young are preyed upon by so many enemies that relatively few survive.
In size fish vary from tiny minnows, an inch or so in adult length, to man-eating sharks thirty-five feet long.
Whales (which see) are mammals, though they bear certain resemblances to fish.

More About Fish from The Web:

More About Fish from Our Blogs:

Friday, July 24, 2020

Falcon: 8 Fun Facts

A falcon is a hawk famous for its strength, symmetry and remarkable power of flight.

8 Fun Facts About Falcons:

Its claws are sharp and hooked, its short, stout legs are heavily feathered and its curved beak is armed with a sharp point.
The peregrine falcon was the one most used in hunting game (see below), but there are several other species that are almost equally powerful and graceful.
The Greenland falcon is one of the best-known.
Falconry, or Hawking, is the pursuit of game by means of trained falcons or hawks.
The birds are trained to seize tlieir prey and return with it to their masters.
In the Middle Ages falconry was the favorite sport of princes and nobles; and, as ladies could engage in it, it became very prevalent.
In France it reached its height under Francis I, whose grand falconer had under him an establishment of fifteen nobles and fifteen falconers, costing annually about 40,000 livres.
In Britain it was practiced among the Anglo-Saxons, but grew still more in favor after the Norman Conquest, only to decline in the seventeenth century, when firearms came into general use. However, it has never wholly died out in Europe.

Paul Manning talks about the art of falconry.

Elk: 9 Important Facts

Elk, a name applied to two members of the deer family, found respectively in the European and North American continents. Both species have been hunted until their numbers have been greatly reduced.

9 Important Facts About Elk:

American Elk, or Wapiti (native name). This noble game animal once ranged over the continent from the Carolinas to Alaska, but it is now seen only in the Rocky Mountains from the Northern United States into Alberta.
It has been hunted for its flesh, hide, teeth and antlers, especially by Native Americans.
Natives covered their tepees and lodges with the wapiti's skin, and used the flesh for food.
Later, large numbers of the animals were slaughtered for their teeth by white men which were used by the Elks' fraternal order as membership badges.
Game laws now protect surviving wapiti, and the membership badges of that order are an imitation elk's head.
The American elk is a close relative of the European red deer, but is much larger, standing five feet high at the shoulder, and weighing as much as 1,000 pounds.
Its upper parts are yellowish-brown, and its sides are gray; there is a whitish patch on each buttock, and the red and black neck has a thick growth of coarse black hair.
The animal has a magnificent pair of branching antlers, which curve outward and backward, but have the tines pointing forward.
Grasses, weed and leaves form the wapiti's food.

More Types of Elk:

European Elk. This, the largest deer of Europe, is very similar to the moose of the United States. It stands about six feet in height at the shoulders, has a thick, large, clumsy head and broad, flat horns. It is grayish-brown in color, some parts being lighter than others. It is still found in many of the wilder parts of Europe, as it is rigidly protected by law. It is easily tamed and has been used as a beast of burden in Sweden.
The Irish elk was a large animal which is now extinct. It was distinguished by its enormous antlers, the tips of which were sometimes as much as eleven feet apart. Its remains are found not only in Ireland but in Scotland and England and on the Continent.

More From The Web About Elk:

Emu

The emu is a three-toed Australian bird, related to the ostrich, cassowary and rhea. It is large, sometimes weighing 130 pounds, and is distinguished by the absence of a casque, or helmet. Its feathers, which are double, are of a dull, sooty brown; those about the neck and head are hairlike in texture. There are two plumes to each quill and the bird has small, useless wings, but it can run with great speed and uses this method of escape from enemies on the plains. If brought to bay it lights viciously, kicking backward with much force. It is very easily tamed and may be kept out of doors in temperate climates.

More About Emus From The Web:

Dragonfly:

Superstitions: In the United States, the dragon
fly was once known as the devil's darning needle,
but the dragon flies are harmless insects, and
not even the butterflies are more beautiful and
graceful.

The dragonfly are a family of beautiful insects, with large, gauzelike wings, that give it powerful and rapid flight. The dragon fly lays its eggs in the water, where the larvae and pupae live on aquatic insects. The larval stage lasts for a year. The pupae are always hungry. They propel themselves through water by drawing it into their bodies and throwing it out again.

More About Dragon Flies From The Web:

More About Dragon Flies From Our Blogs:

Electrical Fish

Electric catfish. The electric catfish of the Nile was

well known to the ancient Egyptians. The Egyptians

reputedly used the electric shock from them when

treating arthritis pain. They would use only smaller fish,

as a large fish may generate an electric shock from

300 to 400 volts. The Egyptians depicted the fish in

their mural paintings and elsewhere; the first known

depiction of an electric catfish is on a slate palette

of the predynastic Egyptian ruler Narmer about

3100 BC. It was suitably called "angry catfish" in

ancient Egyptian.

An electrical fish is any fish that gives an electric shock. One of the best known is the electric eel, a native of South America. It is of nearly equal thickness throughout and grows to the length of six feet.

A species of catfish about four feet long that lives in the Nile, and also species of torpediniformes (rays), one of which is sometimes found on the eastern coast of the United States, are also electric.

The seat of several organs that give the shock are located in different parts of these fish's bodies. After a few discharges, the current is weakened, and an interval of rest is required for a new storage of force.

How do fish make electricity? by Eleanor Nelsen.

Thursday, July 23, 2020

Circus Elephants Paper Cuts

The circus clown and tight rope walker balance on an elephant with monkey.

Vintage paper cuts of an era ended, these circus elephants are now only found in books. I've restored these for your scrapbooks only. Enjoy.

Circus elephants walk behind each other into the arena.

Bear: 13 Furry Facts

Find all kinds of bears to color at
The Crayon Palace.

A bear is a large shaggy beast of prey closely allied to the dog in structure and having many features in common with the badgers, weasels and skunks.

13 Furry Bear Facts:

Bears have massive heads, extended narrow jaws and large teeth.
The body appears more bulky than it really is, because of the looseness of the skin, the length of the coarse fur, the stumpy tail and the comparative shortness of the legs.
The limbs are furnished with long and powerful claws for use in digging, fighting and climbing trees. The senses of hearing and smell are very well developed.
Bears are clumsy in their movements; yet they can run rapidly, and most of them climb trees or scramble over rocks with remarkable speed.
They usually make their home in some cave or crevice among rocks, or in hollow trees.
There, in the early spring, the young ones, usually two in number, are born.
Each bear family usually keeps pretty well to itself, instead of hunting in packs as the wolves do.
Bears will eat nearly all kinds of food.
They are fond of fruits, berries, herbs, roots, eggs, ants and honey. They capture and devour small animals in the woods and often raid human settlements in search of young pigs, calves, colts and sheep.
Almost all bears eat fish and reptiles, and some species live almost entirely on fish.
The pelt of bears were much valued for furs, overcoats and rugs at one time
The flesh was used for food in many parts of the world.
Bear fat and claws are not only valuable but illegal due to the threat of extinction.

Learn More About Bears from The Web:

Craft Bears:

St. Patrick's Day Silhouettes

I will collect for this post, those few St. Patrick's Day paper cuts that I happen across in the archives. So far there are: angelic harps, a vintage pipe with shamrocks and a rabbit nibbling on a piece of clover.

St. Patrick Silhouettes for the classroom and child paper crafts.

Halloween Mask Silhouettes

Samples of how the masks will look once these are cut from black construction paper.

Teachers or guardians will need to enlarge the patterns to fit their student's head. I've included a picture above to show what these paper Halloween masks will look like once they have been cut from black construction paper. Students may wish to include more details on their masks drawn with a white crayon. Attach a string to hold the masks in place with a stapler on either side of these scary little faces.

The angry cat seems like a Halloween classic to me, but, the angry bunny rabbit? Oh, well these are very old patterns folks. Sometimes cultural norms slip through the cracks of time...

The angry black cat, I understand.

The angry bunny? Not so much.

Wildlife Stencils for The Classroom

Stencil of bird in flight with out-stretched wings.

Be sure to click directly on the stencils in order to download the largest file size. These four wildlife stencils for educators to use in their classrooms are duty free: bluebird, jay, running rabbit and a squirrel holding an acorn.

Stencil of a jay sitting on the limb of a tree.

Stencil of a running rabbit or hare.

Stencil of a squirrel holding a hazel nut.

Wednesday, July 22, 2020

Falling Leaves, Squirrels Up Trees...

Silhouettes of oak leaves.

These two pages of Fall/Autumn paper cuts are by Beckwith. You may cut them from cardboard and trace around them to create fall vignettes in your classroom or paper cut-outs for crafting with young students.

Silhouette of squirrel eating acorns in a tree.

Echidna

The echidna or spiny ant-eater, a genus of Australian toothless mammals, in size and general appearance resembling a large hedgehog, excepting that the spines are longer, and the muzzle is long and slender, with a small opening at the end through which a long, flexible tongue can be thrust. The echidna sleep during the day.

It has short, strong legs and its five toes are armed with powerful claws so that it can burrow easily in the ground. It feeds upon ants and other insects, which it catches with its long, sticky tongue. It is nearly allied to the oraithorhynchus or duckbill, and the two form a peculiar class of animals, having in their structure some of the peculiarities that mark mammals, birds and reptiles.

More About Echidna From The Web:

Foxhound

A foxhound is a high-spirited hound that has a keen scent, remarkable perseverance and great endurance. It is easily trained and becomes very skillful in hunting foxes. Somewhat smaller than the staghound, the foxhound seems to be a cross between the staghound or the bloodhound and the greyhound. It is commonly of a white color, with patches of black and tan, has short hair, large and straight limbs and large, thin ears. Its usual height is about twenty inches.

More About Foxhounds from The Web:

Flamingo: 10 Fun Facts

The flamingo is a strange-looking bird, whose body is rather smaller than that of the stork, but which, owing to its great length of neck and leg, measures on average six feet, from head to foot.

10 Fun Facts About Flamingos:

There are several different species found in Mediterranean and tropical countries, all more or less red in color and varying in size.
They migrate in V-shaped flocks.
Their necks are extremely slender and flexible, and their big, naked bills are bent abruptly down, as if broken near the middle.
In feeding, the bird stands nearly erect, thrusting its neck downward and burying its bill and perhaps its head in the water, with the top of the bill downward.
It then sways its head from side to side, causing currents of water to pass back and forth through the bill, where fine horny projections strain out the seeds and the small animals that are stirred up from the bottom by the bird's feet.
The birds nest in the warm countries in large colonies, upon muddy flats near the water level.
Their nests are big cones of reeds and sticks, cut off squarely at such a height that the mother bird can sit with her legs dangling down the sides, though she usually sits with them folded up beneath her.
The flamingo of North America nests in the latitude of Florida.
The male has a light red plumage, whose large feathers have black quills; the females are pale pink and the young nearly white.
As is the case with other beautiful birds, their handsome plumes made them sought by hunters in the past and laws have been passed for their protection.

More About Flamingos From The Web:

Flamingos at Lake Nakuru by Ruedi Abbuhl.

Bower-bird: The Great "Seducer"

The bower-bird , a name given to several different birds living in Australia or the Pacific islands. They are so called because in the nesting season they build remarkable bowers to serve as places of resort. These are constructed on the ground, usually under overhanging branches in secluded parts of the forest. There the male birds meet and dance and go through the queer antics that are supposed to attract their mates. One species even uses small shells for decoration; another bird builds a tent-like structure around a sapling, using for rafters the stem of an orchid that continues to blossom after it is picked; still another uses only feathers. This fondness for bright things is not confined to the bower-birds, though no other birds seem to possess it to so great a degree. The magpie may be mentioned as an American illustration of this trait.

More About Bower-bird From The Web:

Bowerbirds Pull Off a Jewel Heist
Satin Bowerbird part 1 and part 2 by SuperBruceallen
The Vogelkop Bowerbird: Nature's Great Seducer

Thirty Feet! How Many Do You Know?

Just as a good shoemaker makes shoes to fit the feet, nature make feet to fit the needs of each individual animal. How many of these feet could you name? They are, from left to right, top to bottom: Horse, Elephant, Eagle, Ostrich, Camel; second row - Chimpanzee, Tiger, Duck, Water Shrew, Lizard, Tiger, Beetle; third row - Sloth, Bear, Locust, Flamingo, Duck-billed Platypus, Crab: fourth row- Peccary, Garden Spider, Giraffe, Frog, Armadillo, Ox; and fifth row- Kangaroo, Box Turtle, Squirrel, Iguana, Harvest Mouse, and Gecko.

Tuesday, July 21, 2020

Duck: 11 Fun Facts

The 12 Most Beautiful Ducks in The World

by 4 Ever Green.

A duck is a web-footed bird, related to the goose and the swan. It is everywhere considered a table delicacy, especially a number of the wild varieties, and therefore within reasonable limits it is the legitimate prey of sportsmen.

11 Fun Facts About Ducks:

Game laws protect it except during a short season in the autumn.
The species can be classed as deep sea ducks, which often obtain their food by diving to a great depth, and river ducks, which remain in shallow water.
Some species are migratory, going northward in summer to their breeding places.
The duck's food is partly vegetable, partly animal.
Ducks have short, thick bodies, covered with thick feathers, under which is a fine, soft down.
In some varieties the feathers are beautifully colored.
The bill is broad and flat, with toothed edges, for holding or straining food.
The head is rather large; the neck, long and gracefully curved, yet much shorter than the neck of the goose or swan.
The feathers are well oiled from glands situated ahead of the tail, and are therefore waterproof.
A peculiar characteristic of the short legs is that they are located back of the center of the body; this causes a strange movement in walking, sometimes called a "waddle."
The food of the wild ducks consists largely of insects, minnows, small frogs, grain, grasses, etc.

More Types of Ducks:

The common mallard, or wild duck, is the original of the domestic duck. In its wild state the male is characterized by the deep green plumage of the head and neck, by a white collar separating the green from the dark chestnut of the lower part of the neck and by having the four middle feathers of the tail recurved. Some tame ducks have nearly the same plumage as the wild ones; others vary greatly, being generally duller or pure white, but all the males have the four recurved tail feathers. There are several favorite varieties of the domestic duck, those of Normandy and Picardy in France and the Aylesbury ducks in England, being remarkable for their great size!

More About Ducks on The Web:

Seal: 12 Interesting Facts

Earless Seal. See many other types at wikipedia.

A seal is a warm-blooded, air- breathing, animal that lives both in the water and on the land. A few seals are found in the Caspian Sea and Lake Baikal, but, with these exceptions, all seals are inhabitants of the sea. They are divided into two classes, called true seals, which have no external ears, and eared seals.

12 Interesting Facts About Seals In General:

The seal has a body which is large at the front and tapers toward the tail, like that of the whales.
It has four legs, which are almost covered by the skin of the body, while in place of the feet are fins or flippers.
The hind legs are used in swimming, and the fore legs support the animal in an erect position when he is on the land.
The mouth is large and is surrounded by numerous feelers, resembling those of the cat.
The eyes are large, with an almost human expression, and the ears are small or entirely lacking.
The body is covered by thick, woolly fur and long, shining hair, and all is so oily and smooth that it enables the seal to move easily through the "water."
Seals are air-breathing animals, but they can remain under water for a considerable time.
They are expert divers and swimmers, but are exceedingly awkward on land.
Seals inhabit the cool waters of the temperate and polar regions and usually return to the same spot year after year to breed.
They live in herds, and before they were hunted many of these herds "were of enormous size.
They frequent rocks in shallow places and icebergs, where they come at breeding time and remain to rear their young.
Most species are easily tamed, and they often form great attachment for their keepers and are easily taught ingenious and amusing tricks.

A fur seal rests on the rocks.

The hair seal, which is the common seal of the Atlantic coast, has long, silky hair, and was once valuable for its skin and fat, called blubber.

5 Facts About Hair Seals:

This seal was captured in large numbers off Newfoundland, Labrador, Jan Meyen Island and in the White Sea.
The inhabitants of Greenland hunted these seals for food and clothing, but they took only a sufficient number to supply their needs.
In many places these seals have been nearly exterminated by hunters, because the skins made good leather, and a valuable oil was extracted from the blubber.
The hair-seal industry was really more important than the fur-seal industry, although it did not receive as much attention.
The danger of exterminating these animals has become so imminent that international agreements restricting the hunting of the animals are routinely drafted signed and updated.

See Fur Seal Act of 1966 and Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972

The fur seal or sea bear is highly valued for its fur, which consists of a thick, woolly hair next the skin, very fine and compact, usually of a dark brown color. Over this grows long, coarse hair, which is of some shade of gray. The fur seals are found in the water of the cool temperate or polar regions north and south of the equator.

More About Fur Seals from The Web:

Fur Seals Overcome Extinction On "Resurrection Island"

by National Geographic

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