FAST, FUN AND FURRY!!!

It’s furry…it’s fast…and it’s Krumbs favorite thing in the world.  What is it, you ask?  It is the chipmunk, of course!

The cheeky little chipmunks are racing around our yard and Krumbs loves every minute of it.  He’s already started marathon chipmunk chasing sessions and is getting super-strong from all the running.  It feels really great to be able to run and stretch outside after a long, awful winter.

Krumbs and I spent some time indoors this weekend checking out some fun facts about chipmunks and you know where we went first, don’t you?  We searched the “Doggy Bag” section of the Imagination Café for articles on our fast and funny friends.  We found a great article by Lisa Hart called “CheekyChipmunks.”  The article was chock full of fun information about Krumbs’ tiny friends and we learned a lot.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Are you interested in learning more about Krumbs’ favorite springtime friends?  Check out Lisa Hart’s article and then follow the links to some neat folktales and Native American legends about chipmunks!

PLANTS FROM SCRAPS???

Hey Everyone,


Krumbs and I have been busy this week.  We've started growing plants from the parts of vegetables that we usually throw in the compost bin--the scraps!  Are you curious?




It started with an old story my grandma told us about growing beautiful, green vines from old potatoes.  She said she had plants that spread all the way across her windowsill and she grew them from potato "eyes."  Well, we love the idea that potatoes have "eyes", so we decided to give it a try! Here's a picture of our potato's eye:

Helpful Hint:  The potato eye is just a small dent in the potato where a sprout (tiny plant stem) begins to grow.  In the picture, there is one potato eye by my thumb and one at the top of the potato.


Once we had the potato and we found its eyes, we were ready to start our potato plant. 
 First, we gathered a small glass filled with water and four toothpicks.

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Next, found the pointy end of the potato and pointed that end down. 
Then, we stuck the toothpicks around the middle of the potato. 
After that, we rested the potato, pointy side down, inside the glass of water.  The toothpicks held the potato high enough that only the bottom half is under water. 
Finally, we put the future potato plant star in our kitchen window where it would get lots of sun. 

                                                    

Okay…maybe you think the potato is cool, and it is, but we have something that is so cool, it is frozen!

Check out the photo below of our onion.  The onion had started to sprout right before we added the toothpicks and put it in water.  This is a picture of the onion after three days in the water:

 

Now, (drum roll, please, since I’m still not sure how to spell out a drum roll) duh, duh, duh, duhnnnn! 

Here is the same onion after only ten days in the water:

You don’t have to tell us this is amazing because we know it!!!  Try this yourself and see if you can grow plants from scraps!  Tell us about your plant adventures at the "Open Mic"  on Imagination Café!

SMARTER THAN YOU THINK?!?

A new study of African elephants shows that...

duhn, duhn, daaaahhhhh! 

Elephants can really think!

Scientists in Kenya recorded different people speaking the same sentence.  Men from the Massaii tribe, the Kamba tribe, and women and young boys from both tribes were all asked to repeat this phrase:

"Look, look over there, a group of elephants is coming."

Scientists played the recordings, one at a time, to groups of African elephants living in the Amboseli National Park.  Then the scientists recorded the elephants' reactions to the recordings--and the results proved African elephants really can tell the difference between human speech.

First, you need to know what scientists know:

Massaii men herd cattle and often fight with elephants over land and drinking water for their cows.  Kamba men are farmers and don't really ever have problems with elephants.  The women and children are not a threat to the elephants because they do not take care of cattle or fight with the enormous pachyderms. 

Now, see if you can figure out the results:

When the elephant herds listened to the Massaii men, they gathered closer together, sniffed the air carefully and moved slowly away from the sound.  When the scientists played the recordings of the Kamba men reciting the same phrase, the elephants didn't react at all.  The elephants had no reaction to the recordings of women and children speaking either.

Hmm...here's what the scientists said:

The elephants didn't react at all when scientists played recordings of Kamba men and  women and children, which shows the elephants can tell the difference between the languages of the Kamba and the languages of the Massaii.  It also shows the elephants know the Massaii men could be a threat but women and children are not dangerous.

The elephants were alert and moved away, but didn't run away when they heard the recording of the Maasai men so scientists believe the elephants are able to do more than just recognize the difference in the languages.  Conservation biologist, Keith Lindsay, believes the elephants understand that if the Massaii men are talking, they are not hunting because hunters would be very quiet.  Since the elephants know they are not in immediate danger, they are not in a hurry to escape when they hear the Massaii men.  Instead of trying to escape, the elephants become more aware and just slowly move away. 

Can you believe it?  African elephants are smarter than we ever thought! 

Would you like to read more about African elephants?  Check out the Café article by David Brown called, "The Elephants of One Continent and Two Different Worlds".  The article talks about the difference between African and Asian Elephants and has some really cool tidbits about both of these amazing animals!  Check it out by clicking here! 



IT'S INTERNATIONAL POLAR BEAR DAY?!?!?

 It is International Polar Bear Day!!! 

 What? You say.  Yes! We say. 

Today, February 27th is a day to honor the fun, frisky, fantastic polar bear and if you need a reason to celebrate this chill loving animal, here it is:  the polar bear helps bring attention to the problem of global warming because from it's frosty white fur to its home in the world's coldest places...the polar bear is all about ice.

In honor of our icy friends, we're sharing our favorite polar bear facts:

1. Polar bears are the largest carnivores on land, but their diet is made up mainly of two kinds of seals.
2. There are only 20,000-25,000 polar bears in the world.
3. Polar Bears are as comfortable in the water as on land and are categorized as marine mammals.
4. Male polar bears can weigh up to 1500 pounds but baby polar bears are born weighing only one pound.
5. Polar Bears can smell seals from a mile away.

What is your favorite animal?  Are you looking for some fun facts about it or about any animal?  Check out the "Creature Feature" at the Imagination Café to find everything you ever wanted to know about tons of our animal friends--just click here!



MEXICO'S WATER MONSTER!!!!!

Crackling cookie crumbs! 

Mexico has water monsters and you won't believe it, but we think they're kind of cute!!  If you don't believe me, take a look at one of these amazing little guys in the picture below:

 

Scientists thought the axlotl had disappeared from the muddy lakes and streams in Mexico, but a team of researchers  found two axlotls hiding out in a lake bottom.  The axlotls are struggling to survive because people are building villages on the banks of the lakes and streams where they live.  The villagers pollute the water and these little amphibians die.  The animals are also eaten by carp, a type of fish that were let go in the lakes by villagers years ago. 

Axlotls have gills, four legs and a long tail.  They grow up to a foot long and although Mexican researchers nicknamed them "monsters", these little guys are completely harmless.  Scientists are interested in studying the axlotls because these animals are able to regrow legs and tails when they are cut off. 

Mexican scientists say between pollution, the threat of being eaten by carp and a lack of safe food to eat, axlotls are disappearing fast. The Mexican Academy of Sciences said scientists found 6,000 axolotls in an area of lakes in 1998, but only 1,000 in 2003  and only 100 in 2008.  Scientists are trying to save the axlotls.  They set up safe areas in many of the lakes and streams to keep out the carp that eat axlotls.  The safe areas also have clean water pumped in and lots of healthy plants for the axlotls to eat.  Hopefully, all these things will help keep Mexico's water monsters from becoming extinct.