Friday, September 24, 2010

Jaguar by Nature Girl


I love big cats so when I got my Ranger Rick magazine, I was really excited that it was about big cats. So I decided to write a post about jaguars. Some of the jaguar’s habitats are in swamps and forests. You can find them in the Americas. It is the hugest cat in the Americas. It is also the third biggest cat in the world. They can be as heavy as 200-300 lbs and can be longer than 2 yards. These huge cats are good swimmers and they love water. Happy swimming, jaguar.

Salt Marsh Caterpillar by Seabiscuit

Photobucket

I found this creature at the Pistol Creek Wetlands Center. I looked it up in my Dad's Audubon book. It is called a Salt Marsh Caterpillar or an Acraea Moth. It is found in salt marshes, fields and pastures. The Wetlands Center used to be a pasture. It eats cord grass. You can find it in all of North America except the northern part of Canada.


This is what the Acraea Moth looks like when it comes out of its cocoon.


For more pictures of our trip check out: Eclectic Momma

Friday, August 27, 2010

Bug Battle by Nature Girl

Some bugs are really a pain to farmers. Other bugs help farmers by eating the other bad bugs. Take the lady bug for an example, it will eat 500 aphids before turning into an adult.

Photo Credit

The wasp lays it's eggs on a hornworm. When the eggs hatch inside the horn worm caterpillar, they start feasting away! Sorry buddies, no more munching for you!

Paramecium by Seabiscuit

Photo Credit

A paramecium is a one-celled microscopic animal. It lives in water. A paramecium moves by little hairs, called cilia used as oars. Since its' hairs run diagonally, it kinda turns around and goes spirally through the water. If it's blocked by something it will reverse and try again.