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We call upon all 8th graders to submit their ILA editorials to The Keller Courier! The best 5 will get published!
The Articles In This Section are...
*(NEW)* Bumblebees (Scroll Down)
*(NEW)* The Paradise Flying Snake (Scroll Down)
*(NEW)* Giant Chinese Salamandar (Scroll Down)
*(NEW)* Your Daily Dose of Dino Dictation (Scroll Down)
*(NEW)* Lyle's Flying Fox Bat (Scroll Down)
*(NEW)* The Great Potoo (Scroll Down)
Vaquita (Scroll Down)
Daily Dose of Dino Dictation (3/21/23) (Scroll Down)
Daily Dose of Dino Dictation (3/1/23) (Scroll Down)
Siberian Dwarf Hamsters (Scroll Down)
All About Skinks (Scroll Down)
The Aye-Aye (Scroll Down)
The Quokka (Scroll Down)
The Axolotl (Scroll Down)
Your Daily Dose of Dino Dictation (Scroll Down)
BUMBLEBEES
by Constantine
Bombus
Bumblebees are a species of bee and they are one of the best pollinators of all time. Bumblebees can easily bee identified by their bold colors and fuzzy bodies. Colors include yellow, black and sometimes orange. There are more than 250 species of bumblebee, all belonging to the genus Bombus. They are 0.5 to 1 inches long.
Habitat
Bumblebees live all around the world, but they prefer temperate climates. There are hardly any bumblebees in most of Africa, lowlands of India, and have recently been brought to Australia and New Zealand to help pollinate.
Diet
Bumblebee adults eat nectar and they feed honey and pollen to the young.
Bumble Science/Magic
Bumblebees are very magical creatures and have many powers. The females have pollen baskets on their back pair of legs. The colors can keep predators away because they think the bumblebee is poisonous. Sphinx moths and hummingbird moths copy that feature.
Work Cited
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/invertebrates/facts/bumblebees#:. “Bumblebees.” National Geographic, https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/invertebrates/facts/bumblebees#:. Accessed 28 March 2023. (https://www.britannica.com/animal/bumblebee)
(https://mdc.mo.gov/discover-nature/field-guide/bumblebees)
The Paradise
Flying Snake
Chrysopelea Paradisi, or the Paradise Flying Snake, are one of the five flying tree snake species. They are found in Thailand, Indonesia, Borneo, Sumatra, and India. There, they live in humid rainforests with tall trees. They are called flying snakes because they can flatten their body using their rib muscles. The Paradise Flying Snake can ‘fly’ the farthest of all of the species, with a maximum distance of 100m. They do not actually fly, but glide from high treetops. They are mildly venomous, but they have rear fangs, making it hard to inject humans. They prey on lizards and bats. They can also constrict their prey.
Work Cited
“Chrysopelea paradisi.” Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chrysopelea_paradisi. Accessed 28 March 2023.
Works Cited
“Paradise tree snake (Chrysopelea paradisi).” Thai National Parks, https://www.thainationalparks.com/species/chrysopelea-paradisi. Accessed 28 March 2023.
Giant Chinese Salamandar
Size: 6ft
Conservation status: Critically Endangered
Mass: 55 – 66 lbs
Scientific name: Andrias davidianus
Family: Cryptobranchidae
Diet:frogs,fishes,and smaller salamanders
The Giant Chinese salamander is considered critically endangered in the wild due to habitat loss, pollution, and overcollection, it is used in traditional Chinese medicine. On farms in central China, it is extensively farmed and sometimes bred, though many of the salamanders on the farms are caught in the wild.The population went down to 50,000 salamanders.The Chinese Giant Salamander has a very large head with small eyes, and dark wrinkly skin. The head is flat and broad and has a wide mouth with, round lidless eyes. The colour is dark brown with a speckled pattern, it is known to be of other tones of brown, black and even red. Albinos of the species are known to exist which are white or orange.The Chinese Giant Salamander has very poor eyesight, so the species relies on special sensory nodes that run in a line on the body from head to tail. These allow the animal to sense the slightest vibrations around them. The species feeds mostly in the early evening into the early night. The water temperature also plays apart in the species feeding, with many stopping feeding when water temperatures rise above 20 °C and if the water temp reaches 28 °C feeding will entirely stop for all animals while 35 °C.
Your daily dose of dino diction
Breaking News Discovery! Dinosaurs Making Milk Cartons?! By Constantine
Scientists recently discovered that dinosaurs had milk cartons which leads to many new theories on dinosaurs. These “cartons” look like strange boxes rather than milk cartons. It was discovered by Dr. Bill E. Hidi. He claims that they were “Surprisingly secure and the content inside can’t get out. And that content is dino milk. Of course, female dinos make the milk but males craft the box. We still have no clue how they made them, but it proves that dinosaurs are extremely intelligent. This means the old theory that dinosaurs played cards is possibly true. Scientists couldn’t easily break these cartons. They needed strong, heavy guns to break them. It was slightly decomposed but Professor Andy Wilten, an expert in this matter, could tell it was made of cardboard and copper. How dinosaurs got their claws\wings on those materials and even how their claws\wings function to craft leads to further mystery. After about a month of research Dr. Bill E. Hidi announced his conclusion to the world. Word for word the quote is, directly from Hidi was, “It is a true mystery”
Works Cited
DINOSMILKTHATWELOVE@MILKrUS.edu
Lyle’s Flying Fox Bat by Constantine
Pteropus lylei
The Lyle’s Flying Fox is a medium-sized representative of the Old World fruit bat family. That family is known as the Pteropodidae. It can weigh up to 480 grams or 16.9315 ounces. This species can be distinguished from other flying foxes by size and fur color. Lyle’s Flying Fox’s wing membranes are dark brown and the lower back has short brownish-gray fur.
Diet
Lyle’s Flying Fox eats mainly fruit but will also eat insects. They often raid orchards for fruit at dusk and are sometimes killed by the landowners.
Habitat
Lyle’s Flying Fox lives in the central plains of Thailand and towns, plus parts of Vietnam and Cambodia.
Social level
Lyle’s Flying Foxes roost in safe areas with others. They commonly live in large colonies.
Work Cited
The Great Potoo
Nyctibius grandis, or the Great Potoo, is a strange relative of the Night Jar. They are found in Central and South America, and are nocturnal, meaning they are active at night. They can grow to between 19 and 24 inches and can weigh 13 to 27 ounces.
The Great Potoo has white, gray, black, and burgundy colored feathers, and can camouflage with dead trees. Great Potoos eat large flying insects, bats, and sometimes other birds. They search for prey from their vantage point in high up branches. After they catch something, they will usually return to their perch to rest. They live in semi humid to humid
forests, and stay in dense wooded areas. During the night, when the Potoo are most active, they call through the forests, making a moaning growl that creates a ghastly nighttime environment. For more information on the Potoo, click this link:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LkIlrNAGXQM
Work Cited
“Great Potoo - Facts, Diet, Habitat & Pictures on Animalia.bio.” Animalia Bio, https://animalia.bio/great-potoo. Accessed 9 March 2023.
Dubeau, Dylan. “Potoos Are Hauntingly Cute.” YouTube, 23 July 2021, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LkIlrNAGXQM. Accessed 9 March 2023.
“Great Potoo - Facts, Diet, Habitat & Pictures on Animalia.bio.”
The vaquita
Name:Vaquita
Scientific: name:Phocoena Sinus
Height:140 cm-150 cm
Conservation status: Critically Endangered
Family: Phocoenidae
` Life span:21 years
The Phocoena Sinus also known as the Vaquita is a very endangered species.There are only 10 left in the whole world.The vaquita only exists in the Gulf of California off Mexico.The vaquita became extinct because of illegal gillnetting.the species will become extinct without a fully enforced gillnet ban throughout their entire habitat. WWF(world wildlife organization) is urgently working to ensure they can live and thrive in their natural habitat.The vaquita has a large dark ring around its eyes and dark patches on its lips that form a thin line from the mouth to the pectoral fins. Its top the dorsal surface is dark gray, its sides are pale gray, and its underside the ventral surface is white with long, light gray markings.
Siberian Dwarf Hamsters by Constantine
Skippy Phodopus sungorus
Siberian Dwarf hamsters (also known as Winter White Dwarf) hamsters are small rodents that originated in Siberia. They look a lot like mice with short tails. The hamster’s length is 50-100 millimeters and an additional 10 millimeters with the tail. Their two incisors keep growing throughout their lives and they can maintain a good teeth size by chewing on wood. Hamsters don’t have good eyesight, but they have good night vision. They get around using their scent glands to mark places they have been and with their good noses they will know their surroundings better.
Birth and maturity
The Siberian Dwarf hamster’s litter size is 1-13 and the average maturity age is 4 to 5 weeks. They are born hairless and blind, so they rely on their mother to take care of them.
Diet
Siberian Dwarf hamsters are tiny foragers and eat nuts, grains, berries, insects, seeds, petals, and vegetables such as celery and green beans.
Habitat
Siberian Dwarf hamsters are excellent diggers and make burrows to nest in that are at more stable temperatures. Their preferred habitats are in arid areas such as scrubland or deserts.
Social level
Siberian Dwarf hamsters can be very social to humans and can be pretty calm (until they get energy). In the wild, Siberian Dwarf hamsters often live in solitude or in small groups.
Threats
For one thing, Siberian Dwarf hamsters are low on the food chain with birds of prey, wild cats, weasels, members of the canine family, and more to eat them. But their main threat is actually agriculture. They sometimes eat crops from farms, so farmers will set up traps to catch them. Plus, plows go over their tunnels and destroy their nests.
Works Cited
Biologydictionary.net Editors. "Dwarf Hamster." Biology Dictionary, Biologydictionary.net, 28 Jul. 2020, https://biologydictionary.net/dwarf-hamster
#SkippytheHamstermouse
Skippy
Your daily dose of dino diction
Amphicoelias and Bruhathkayosaurus
These two sauropods, known as mega sauropods, are some of the largest dinosaurs. There is very little evidence of their existence. These sauropods dwarf the Argentinosaurus - which was 98 feet long - compared to the Amphicoelias at an impossible length of approximately 190 feet long.
Bruhathkayosaurus
The Bruhathkayosaurus, meaning ‘large bodied lizard’, was not as long as the Amphicoelias, but it weighed 29 tons more than its longer counterpart. Bruhathkayosaurus was discovered in Southern India, around 1978. It was an herbivore in the late cretaceous period. The only known fossils of this sauropod were lost to a monsoon, leaving humanity with just descriptions and drawings of the bones.
Amphicoelias
The Amphicoelias has even less known about it than the Bruhathkayosaurus, with the only fossil records thought to be lost for 100 years, and people are questioning if the fossils were ever real. Amphicoelias was 55% longer than Titanosaur. The only fossil was found in the 1800s, which was a five foot tall vertebrae, a piece of the spine.
Work Cited
Goldenberg, David. “The Biggest Dinosaur In History May Never Have Existed.” FiveThirtyEight, 11 January 2016, https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/the-biggest-dinosaur-in-history-may-never-have-existed/. Accessed 31 January 2023.
Prehistoric Wildlife. “Bruhathkayosaurus.” Prehistoric Wildlife, http://www.prehistoric-wildlife.com/species/b/bruhathkayosaurus.html. Accessed 31 January 2023.
Tsintaosaurus by ConstantineTsintaosaurus skull
The Tsintaosaurus lived 70 million years ago in the late cretaceous period. It was famous for being a “Unicorn dinosaur”. It got that nickname from the singular horn-like crest on top of its head, most likely used to impress mates. The Tsintaosaurus’ name is after the town Tsingtao. It is an enormous hadrosaur, about the size of an elephant and weighs 2.9 tons.
Diet
The Tsintaosaurus was a herbivore and was enormous, so it could easily eat from trees, and it ate grass and bushes.
Location
The Tsintaosaurus’ fossils were found in Tsingtao, Shandong Province, China and lived near lake shores.
All About Skinks
By Ben Harrison
Blue Tongue Skink
The Blue Tongue Skink also known as Tiliqua Scincoides (Scientific name) is native to the deserts, grasslands, and rainforests of Australia and New Guinea. They are the largest of the skinks, with a maximum length of 24 Inches. They are omnivorous, meaning they eat both plants and animals. Their common diet includes insects, worms, eggs, small rodents and lizards, fruits, and berries. Blue Tongue Skinks got their name from their distinctive blue tongues that they flare out as a defense mechanism against predators such as snakes, and Kokabarus, a native Australian bird.
Monkey-Tailed Skink
Corucia Zebrata, also known as the Monkey Tailed Skink, is the largest, and rarest type of skink in the world. It is also one of the few lizards that have prehensile tails. Prehensile is a grasping limb of an animal, which means that its tail is like a fifth hand. Monkey tailed skinks live for about 15 years, and can grow to about 2 and a half feet long, and weighing around 2 pounds. Monkey tailed skinks are only found in the Solomon Islands, off of Australia. There, they are arboreal, which means that they live their lives almost entirely in the tall trees in their rainforest home. The Monkey tailed skink is the only herbivorous skink, which means it only eats plants. Its diet consists of flowers, leaves, and fruits. It is preyed upon by rats, snakes, and birds of prey.
Red Eyed Crocodile Skink
The Red Eyed Crocodile Skink, also known as Tribolonotus gracilis, Is native to New Guinea. They live in warm, humid rainforests. They are good swimmers and climbers. When they climb, they stay close to the ground and don’t go into the canopy. Crocodile Skinks are insectivores, meaning they eat insects such as flies, worms, and crickets. Red Eyed Crocodile Skinks have bright red markings around their eyes. Crocodile Skinks can grow to 10 inches long, and can weigh up to 1 pound.
Work Cited
Animalia. “Red-Eyed Crocodile Skink - Facts, Diet, Habitat & Pictures on Animalia.bio.” Animalia Bio, https://animalia.bio/red-eyed-crocodile-skink. Accessed 7 March 2023.
Work Cited
“Prehensile-Tailed Skink | Online Learning Center.” Aquarium of the Pacific, https://www.aquariumofpacific.org/onlinelearningcenter/species/prehensile_tailed_skink. Accessed 7 March 2023.
Work Cited
“Eastern Blue-Tongued Skink Facts and Information.” SeaWorld.org, https://seaworld.org/animals/facts/reptiles/eastern-blue-tongued-skink/. Accessed 7 March 2023.
Insects Have Weather Changing Abilities?
A new scientific revelation.
Zap! Did you feel that? That was lightning! A big volt of energy and electricity. You might be saying how loud or large that bolt was. Imagine if that bolt was multiplied by eight? A recently published scientific study shows that swarms of bees and other insects may be able to change our weather, creating energy eight times greater than one storm cloud. “Researchers measured the electrical fields surrounding Honeybee hives, revealing that bees can produce as much atmospheric energy as a thunderstorm.”
What Could This Mean For Our World?
Though it is not yet a big factor, scientists can not disclude it. This energy can be a part of directing dust particles to create unforeseeable meteorological conditions. Scientists have decided that the effect these bees have on our planet could end up as a factor in creating models of our climate while learning more about our world.
How Do These Bees Do This?
The Honeybees can obtain this energy by the friction made when their wings beat extremely fast and the molecules of air rub up against each other. However, Honeybees could also land on electrically charged surfaces, for example a solar panel, and absorb the charges.
Flowers have electricity fields, too. Honeybees can feel these forces. Because of these electrical fields the bees can also feel when other bees have been to the same plant, or flower more specifically. They get this information because the electrical fields shift slightly and they can feel it.
These are pictures of the Edmontosauros. These are the exoskeleton!
pYour daily dose of dino diction
By Constantine and Ben
Edmontosaurus by Constantine
The Edmontosaurus is 43 feet long, making it one of the largest hadrosaurs, or duck-billed dinosaurs. It lived during the late Cretaceous period, around 75-66 million years. It got its name from Edmonton town in Alberta, Canada, where its fossil was discovered. The Edmontosaurus walked on four feet and could bend pretty low to reach lower plants on the ground. It could stand on its hind legs to reach high branches on tall trees, but it can’t run in that position.
Diet
The Edmontosaurus was a herbivore, so its diet was plants. It used its large duckbill to chomp up leaves. The back of its mouth has hundreds of tiny teeth for chewing and making digestion easier.
Location
The Edmontosaurus fossils are found in Canada and the USA. It is thought by expert scientists to have spent a lot of time in water. The Edmontosaurus lived in swamps.
Fun facts
Some Edmontosaurus fossils were so well preserved in ice, not all of the skin and soft tissues fully decomposed
Edmonton, the town the Edmontosaurus is named after, is famous for being the largest northernmost metropolis and a giant gateway to Canada’s most wild and adventurous landscapes
Staurikosaurus by Constantine or “Teeno”
The Staurikosaurus was an early hunter and lived roughly 224 million years ago. Staurikosaurus means Southern Cross Lizard, because it was pretty rare to find an old triassic dinosaur near the equator at the time it was discovered. Most dinosaurs at the equator from that period had no remains. It weighs 27 pounds and is 7 feet long. It was discovered in 1936 by a paleontologist named Llewellyn Ivor Prince.
Diet
The Staurikosaurus was a carnivore and since it was small, it ate smaller creatures and lizards. It was small and fast like a lot of the early hunters.
Location
Its fossils were found in South America and mostly Brazil. Or, to be more specific, Rio Grande do Sul.
Fun facts
It was discovered in 1936 by a paleontologist named Llewellyn Ivor Prince.
The Staurikosaurus was named 30 years after it was discovered
Hatzegopteryx
By Ben Harrison
While the Hatzegopteryx(Meaning “Hateg Basin Wing”) was not a true dinosaur, it was alive at the same time as them, in the Late Cretacous period from about 70.6 million years ago up until 66 million years ago. When scientists analyzed the few Hatzegopteryx fossils, they realized that it had a striking resemblance to the Quetzalcoatlus, another large pterosaur. The scientific name of Hatzegopteryx is H. thambema.
Diet
The Hatzegopteryx was a piscivore, meaning it mainly ate fish. Its diet also includes hard shelled crustaceans such as crabs. Other prey items include insects, and small dinosaurs.
Location
The Hatzegopteryx lived on Hateg Island located in Tethys Sea in Romania. On this island, it was the apex predator, because on this island, all of the animals were smaller than their same species on the mainland. This is called insular dwarfism. It is believed that Hatzegopteryx did not become small like the other inhabitants of this island because it would have traveled to find a larger source of food, so it was not anchored to the island.
Fun Facts
Hatzegopteryx was named by Eric Buffetaut, Dan Grigorescu & Zoltan Csiki in 2002.
Hatzegopteryx had a wingspan of about 10 - 11 meters, or 32 - 36 feet.
Work Cited
Buffetaut, Eric. “Hatzegopteryx.” Prehistoric Wildlife, http://www.prehistoric-wildlife.com/species/h/hatzegopteryx.html. Accessed 10 January 2023.
Name: Hatzegopteryx (Hatzeg Wing).
Phonetic: Hat-zeh-gop-teh-rix.
Named By: Eric Buffetaut, Dan Grigorescu & Zoltan Csiki - 2002.
Classification: Chordata, Reptilia, Pterosauria, Pterodactyloidea, Azhdarchidae.
Species: H. thambema (type).
Type: Carnivore.
Size: Estimated wingspan of between 10 and 11 meters across.
Known locations: Romania, Transylvania, Hateg Basin.
Time period: Maastrichtian of the Cretaceous.
Fossil representation: Skull fragments and partial post cranial remains.
Dk Dinosaurs: The grand tour
https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/the-biggest-dinosaur-in-history-may-never-have-existed/
The Aye-Aye
By :Deesha Narayanaswamy
Common name:Aye-Aye
Scientific Name:Daubentonia Madagascariensis
Type:Lemur
Diet:Omnivorous
Average lifespan:23 years
Size:16 in.(adult)
Weight:5 lbs. (adult)
The Daubentonia Madagascariensis, also known as the Aye-Aye, has many cool facts.The name Aye-Aye means an expression of compliance.The Aye-Aye is a symbol of death while other Lemurs are a symbol of good luck. In the world there are only 1,000 to 10,000 Aye-Ayes due to the superstition of the Aye-Aye being bad luck/death symbol. This unique animal is listed as "threatened" on the International Union for the Conservation of Nature's Red List.
The Aye-Aye gets its food by tapping the tree it is sitting on with its long middle finger, while listening for insect larvae .The Aye-Aye is a long-fingered lemur, native to Madagascar.
Link used: https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/facts/aye-aye
The Quokka
By:Deesha Narayanaswamy
Name:Quokka
Scientific name:Setonix brachyurus
Height:24-33 cm
Diet:herbivore
Average lifespan:10 years
The Quokka is a very cool animal.Quokkas are playful,adorable and known for being the happiest animals on the earth because of their smiles.The Quokkas are so kind because of the lack of predators.The Quokkas are in the same descendants as the kangaroo species which is called the Macropodidae.The Quokka have some of the same characteristics as the kangaroo such as they like to hop and carry their babies in their pouch.Quokkas are known for selfies that they take with people.The Quokka is on the nature threatened species list due to habitat loss and human development.We can learn a lesson from these cute adorable creatures to always spread positive energy!
Pet axolotls are popular in China and Japan.
PHOTOGRAPH BY JANE BURTON, NATURE PICTURE LIBRARY
The Axolotl
The Axolotl
COMMON NAME: Axolotls (pronounced ACK-suh-LAH-tuhl)
SCIENTIFIC NAME: Ambystoma mexicanum
TYPE: Amphibians
DIET: Carnivore
AVERAGE LIFESPAN IN THE WILD: 10 to 15 years
SIZE: Up to 12 inches
WEIGHT: 2.11 to 8 ounces
The Mexican walking fish, also known as an Axolotl, has many interesting facts. Some of the Axolotls' powers are regenerating any lost limbs, organs or livers and they can look like babies for their whole life! Scientists are researching Axolotl's regeneration as a way to mix axolotl cells with human blood so that sick people can regenerate their blood cells.
Recently, Scientists discovered that when you feed an Axolotl a tiny piece of meat, it grows out to be a land animal known as a salamander. People are trying to figure out if the Axolotl should be classified as its own species or if it’s related to the Tiger Salamander because when fed meat it turns into a salamander that looks very similar to the tiger salamander.
In the legend of the Axolotl, there was a god of fire and lightning whose name was Xolotl, who didn't want to be sacrificed so he disguised himself as an Axolotl. He was eventually captured and killed. The axolotl defines death.
To learn more about Axolotl, please refer - https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/amphibians/facts/axolotl
and https://animals.sandiegozoo.org/animals/axolotl
References:
National Geographic, Axolotl,https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/amphibians/facts/axolotl
San Diego zoo WildLife Alliance, Axolotl Ambystoma mexicanum, https://animals.sandiegozoo.org/animals/axolotl
Your Daily Dose of Dino Diction
By Constantine and Ben
THE PACHYCEPHALOSAURUS
By Constantine K-B
Pachycephalosaurus means ¨thick-headed lizard¨. The Pachycephalosaurus has a strange dome made of bone on top of its head. It could have been used for fighting rival herds, however, their necks appear to not have been able to withstand the force, making this theory weak. Another theory relates to impressing mates or rivals. The Pachycephalosaurus is an herbivore and ate bushes, ferns, seeds, and soft fruits. It lived 66 million years ago in the cretaceous period. Its habitat was the forests of North America. The Pachycephalosaurus´ length is about 15 ft or 4.5 meters.
The Suzhousaurus
By Ben H
Summary
Suzhousaurus was a large herbivore that could reach lengths of 20 feet long, and inhabited Asia during the Early Cretaceous period (66 Million years ago). This dinosaur was related to the Therizinosaurus - a feathered herbivore from the Late Cretaceous period with claws that could have been 20 inches long. Suzhousaurus means “Suzhou Lizard”, the name of the place it’s fossils were first found in.
Habitat and Diet
Suzhousaurus lived in present day China, and most likely it inhabited other areas of Asia as well. A possible habitat for this Therizinosaurid is semi-arid terrain with few lakes, or warm, open plains with small streams throughout the landscape. Suzhousaurus ate plants and leaves, using its claws to pull them off of trees, or to rip a plant out of the ground.
Sources
My Dinosaur Book
Google
Google Images (The color of Dinosaur skin is unknown)
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