Jay: 8 Fun Facts

An American blue jay.

        Jay, a bird related to the crow, but of smaller size.

8 Fun Facts About Jays:

1. It has a trim shape and beautiful plumage, blue usually predominating".
2. Some species have long tails and high crests.
3. The jays have harsh voices and do not sing, but some of them are skillful in imitating the calls of other birds.
4. They are noted for their fighting disposition and for the bad habit of destroying the nests, eggs and even the young of weaker birds.
5. Some of the jays are brilliantly colored.
6. The beautiful American blue jay is bright blue marked with black and white.
7. The Canada jay, or ichisky Jack, or lumber Jack, is a bird of rather somber coloring, but with the bold, noisy and active habits of the other jays.
8. The common European jay is cinnamon-colored, varied with white, black and blue. Its head is provided with a conspicuous black-marked crest.

More About Jays From The Web:

• Blue Jay or Cyanocitta cristata from Missouri Dept. of Conservation
• 7 Beautiful Jays That Aren't So Famous
• LesleytheBirdNerd has more about blue jays... lots more.

Sea Lion: 9 Facts About

A sea lion suns himself on rocky cliffs.

       A sea lion, the name given to a large group of eared seals, which, though closely related to the fur seals, were not trapped as often for skinning.

9 Facts About Sea Lions:

1. All have long, cylindrical bodies, small, round heads, pointed noses, thick skin, with an under layer of fat for protection against cold, and coarse hair.
2. The individuals of some species have manes.
3. The largest animals, belonging to the Steller group, attain a weight of a thousand pounds and more, and a length of fourteen feet.
4. Their particular habitat is the North Pacific.
5. The natives of the Aleutian Islands caught thousands of these seals once. They used the flesh for food, the hide for shoes and boats and the sinews for thread.
6. Another group, called California sea lions, is made up of smaller animals.
7. Sea lions are seen in large numbers on the Pacific coast cliffs.
8. They are peaceable creatures, but if attacked defend themselves fiercely.
9. They are protected by law, but a few are allowed to be taken for menageries and zoological gardens. 

More About Sea Lions From the Web:

• California Sea Lion: Protected by NOAA Fisheries
• Sea Lions Are Endangered
• Baby Sea Lions Sick and Starving To Death

Canary

Tiny hatching canaries by Monika Pakeka

       A canary is a small finch, originally from the Canary Islands and Madeira, but introduced into Europe several hundred years ago. It is the most popular of all cage birds because of its cheerful singing and friendly nature. Canaries have been bred in captivity so long that many remarkable varieties have developed, scarcely resembling the greenish little bird of Madeira. The topknots of some, the long, slender shapes of others, the yellows, browns, reds and blacks seen in their plumage are all unnatural. The Scotch fancy canary, with his long, slender, curved body, bent almost to a semicircle, is one of the strangest results of breeding.

More About Canaries From The Web:

• How to Take Care of a Canary & Finch as Pets
• Best Trained Canary by Cazuza Roxy

Sea Cucumbers

sea cumbers are sold according
to their weight and species.

      Sea Cucumbers, or Holothuria, the name of a group of sea animals, belonging to the same branch of starfishes, sea urchins and sea lilies. They are covered with a tough, leathery skin which is perforated with holes, through which the foot-tentacles protrude. The animals are capable of contracting and extending themselves to several times their ordinary length, and they will reproduce to an extraordinary degree parts of the body which are cut away or destroyed. They abound along the eastern coast of Asia, and some species are edible.

More About Sea Cucumbers From The Web:

• How sea cucumbers can help the ocean
• Why Sea Cucumbers Are So Expensive
• Zanzibar Sea Cucumber Training 2019
• Sea cucumbers, an unknown resource

Echinodermata starfishes, etc...

Scorpion: 11 Elemental Facts

There are approx. 20 species
in the United States.

       Scorpion, the name of a group of animals belonging to the same class as the spiders.

11 Elemental Facts About Scorpion:

1. They live in tropical and warm temperate regions, and are not found in America north of Nebraska.
2. In the southern part of the United States there are about twenty species.
3. The body consists of two parts, one containing the head and thorax and called the cephalothorax, and the other a long, jointed abdomen, the last five segments of which form a tail.
4. Four pairs of legs and two pairs of mandibles or pincers are attached to the cephalothorax; the second pair of pincers resemble a lobster's claws.
5. The abdomen contains breathing pores and the last segment of the tail is armed with a sharp poisonous sting, the poison being secreted by two glands at its base.
6. The eyes vary in number from six to twelve, according to the species.
7. Scorpions are usually black or yellowish in color.
8. The young are carried on the body of the mother for several days after birth. They cling to her body by the pincers.
9. Scorpions remain hidden in crevices and under rocks by day, and are active at night.
10. They feed upon insects and spiders, and are dreaded by man because their sting causes a serious and painful wound, though it is seldom fatal.
11. The poison should be sucked from the wound as soon as possible, and the wound bathed with ammonia, which should be also taken internally. 

More About Scorpions from The Web:

• Scorpion at The San Diego Zoo
• Scorpions by ScienceDirect
• Insects and Scorpions - Health and Safety from CDC

Crafts About Arachnids:

• Draw a Design from A Spider's Web
• Craft a Ruote Pasta Web
• Draw a Shaded White Spider Web

Sepia Or Cuttlefish

Watch Kisslip Cuttlefish Changing Colors from

Monterey Bay Aquarium

       Sepia, the name of a cuttlefish, also of a pigment used by painters to produce a beautiful brown color prepared from the secretion of an organ in the cuttlefish, called the ink bag. The original black color is changed to brown by dissolving in caustic potash. This solution, after boiling and filtering, forms the sepia of commerce. The black coloring matter obtained from the ink bags is marketed, after undergoing several processes, as India ink. 

More About Cuttlefish From The Web:

• Cuttlefish Use Hypnosis to Hunt
• Can Cuttlefish Camouflage in a Living Room?
• How To Clean Squid or Cuttlefish - without bursting the ink sack (If you were harvesting fish for sepia ink, you would need to know how to remove the ink sack

Cheetah

Leopard on top, Cheetah on bottom.

       Cheetah is an animal of the cat family, found principally in Africa and India, and most commonly known as the limiting Jeopard. It derives this name from the fact that it can be trained to hunt antelopes and other like game. The cheetah has a little longer body in proportion to its size than the other cats, and its legs are slender. It can maintain a greater speed for a short distance than can any other land mammal. 

More About Cheetahs From The Web:

• Learn About The Cheetah at the Smithsonian's National Zoo
• The Cheetah's Wild Life
• You Can't Outrun a Cheetah by Animalogic

Crafts About Cats:

• Paper cut of a very fuzzy cat (template)
• How to draw a Halloween Cat
• Old-Fashioned Halloween Silhouettes (templates)

Chameleon: 5 Foundational Facts

Chameleon a genus of lizards, natives of the Old World, but found also in the Southern United States and the West Indies.

5 Foundational Facts About The Chameleon:

1. The best-known species has a naked body six or seven inches long, and feet and tail all suitable for grasping branches.
2. The skin is cold to the touch and contains small grains which in the shade are of a bluish-gray color, but which in the light of the sun become a grayish-brown or tawny color.
3. The chameleon possesses the curious power, however, of changing its color, either in accordance with its surroundings or with its temper, when disturbed.
4. Its power of fasting and habit of inflating itself gave rise to the fable that it lived on air, but in reality it feeds upon insects, taking its prey by rapid movements of a long, sticky tongue.
5. In general habit chameleons are dull and sluggish. They are often kept as pets.

More About Chameleons From The Web:

• Beautiful Footage: Chameleons Are Amazing by National Geographic and The Illegal and Secretive World of Chameleon Ranching

Watch a Chameleon Chang Its Colors by 

The Animal Box Office.

Whose Eyes Are These?

       Teachers or parents may print out the animal eye chart to quiz their kids about whose eyes are these. Here are the answers:

1. Eye of Solitary Frog
2. "stalk eye" of Crab
3. Eye of the Toad
4. Whirligig Beetle Eyes
5. The Chameleon's Eye
6. Eyes of the Snail on Stalks
7. Cat's Eye
8. Moth's Eye
9. Eye of A Dog
10. Spider Eyes
11. Eagle's Eye
12. Grasshopper's Eye
13. Sheep's Eye
14. Eye of the Fly
15. The Cow's Eye

Numbers 4, 8, 12, and 14 are all compound eyes!

Take the Nature Check Animal Eye Quiz!

and visit them to play more animal games.

Weasel

Cute But Deadly Weasel by Casey Anderson

Weasels that have white coats are called Ermine.

       The weasel is a small, carnivorous animal, a native of almost all the temperate and cold parts of the northern hemisphere. The body is extremely slender, the head small and flattened, the neck long and the legs short. It preys upon mice, birds and other small animals and is very destructive to poultry. The weasel is usually nocturnal in its habits. It is a fine hunter, having a very keen scent and sharp sight, and, being unwavering in pursuit of its victim, it often wears to exhaustion animals larger than itself. Several species are common in the United States, and others are found in. most parts of the temperate zones. The long-tailed, or New York, weasel is one of the most familiar species in North America. It is dark brown above and white beneath, and in winter in cold climates it turns pure white, except for the tip of the tail, which is black.

More About Weasels From The Web:

• This Minnesota Weasel is a Farmer's Favorite for Good Reason
• Stoat and weasel guide: how to identify, habitat, diet and best places to spot

Draw the cunning little weasel step-by-step.

Weaver Bird

      Weaver bird is a small bird resembling the finch, with pointed wings, a sharp, conical bill and unusually long claws. The name has reference to the bird's manner of building its nest, which is a wonderful structure of woven vegetable substances. The form and workmanship of the nests vary with the several species.

       The yellow weaver, or baya, of India, builds a long, bottle-like nest, and hangs it from a slender branch of tree or shrub, often over the water, where it is impossible for anything but a bird to enter. The sociable weaver birds build a large dome-shaped structure, or roof, in the forks of branches, and underneath this common roof many families build their nests, each with a separate entrance. While all members of the community work on the roof, each pair works alone on its own nest. 

More About Weaver Birds From The Web:

• Watch a Weaver Bird Build a Nest In A Single Day
• BBC Home Making: Weaver Bird

Kangaroo: 12 Incredible Facts

The kangaroo's tail helps to support the animal
as he or she sits and leaps.

       The kangaroo is one of the most strangely-formed animals in the world, found in a wild state only in Australia and nearby islands.

12 Incredible Kangaroo Facts:

1. The most noticeable feature about the kangaroo is the disproportion between the upper and lower parts of the body. The head is small and deer-like in shape, with large ears; the fore legs are small, and the hind legs are relatively large and powerful.
2. The tail is long and thick at the base and helps to support the animal when it sits erect, and to assist it in its long leaps.
3. When moving at an ordinary rate, the kangaroo jumps about its own length, but when frightened it can leap from three to four times that far.
4. Kangaroos are among the most ludicrous of all animals, and are objects of great interest in a "zoo."
5. The young are born very immature, being in most instances less than an inch long, and are protected and nourished for about eight months in a pouch on the mother's abdomen.
6. Kangaroos live entirely upon vegetable growths, and where still plentiful, they are a serious pest to farmers.
7. They are very timid, but are alert in time of danger.
8. The kangaroos include many species, varying in size from that of a hare to that of a large sheep, and remains of still larger extinct species have been found in Australia.
9. The larger and more common kinds belong to a genus including the giant kangaroo, the gray kangaroo and the brush kangaroo.
10. The kangaroos can kill a dog with a blow of the hind foot.
11. The animals were hunted for their hides, which make excellent leather, and also for their flesh.
12.  Smaller species include the tree kangaroos and the wallabies.

More About Kangaroos From The Web:

• Family Macropodidae, Genus Macropus from Bush Heritage Australia
• Kangaroo Life In The Wild
• Inside a Kangaroo Pouch by SmarterEveryDay
• Baby Kangaroo Rescue!

Superclass Tetradoda Class IV Mammalia.