Reptiles

Hey, I'm talking about reptiles.  Yeah, like dinosaurs, crocodiles and snakes.  Some people think they're amphibians, but they're not because they can't breathe under water.They also have dry and scaly skin because they stay in the sun all day.

Some reptiles, like crocodiles and alligators, go in water but they stick they're heads out to breathe. They also stick them out to see their prey. They also have large scales called scutes.  They shed them one at a time.

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Snakes are another reptile group.  They have different ways of catching prey. Some might use venom or swallow them whole.They also shed there skin all at once.They also have these things called pit sensors that can sense heat in mammals thats why they are able to know where the prey are when they're hunting. They  also  gluide they're called flying snakes.

Turtles are another reptile group.  There are different types of turtles like the sea, alligator snapping and the mud turtle. They also have huge scales called scutes and have to come up to surface to get some air to breathe.

Lizards are reptiles too.  They have to shed their skin in pieces.  There are also 3,800 species of them. Some lizards have detachable tails and can live on any continent except Antarctica because reptiles have to live in warm areas. They have to because they're cold blooded and need warm body temperatures.

Bye...that's the end of my blog.

year 2012

This year is going to be awesome!  I've already had an awesome 3 days and 2012 just started.

Winter break was good.  For Christmas I got gift cards, a remote control car and video games.

My Grandpa came over from Los Angeles to visit for Christmas and we had a good time eating and watching movies.

New Years was also good.  On TV we watched the ball drop in New York.

My friends and family celebrated in their own way.  We had a good time drinking champagne, hot chocolate and eggnog.

I hiked with my friends and moved into my new house.

Happy 2012, Bye!

Amphibians

Hey people! I know my last three posts have been about animals that live underwater, but now I'm talking about animals that can live on water and land.  They're called amphibians. Amphibian means double life because amphibians can live on land and water.

That's because they go through this thing called metamorphosis.  That's when they start off living in the water and breathing with gills as a tad pole.  When they go through metamorphosis they lose their tail, grow legs and live on land by using lungs to breath.

There's three types of amphibians. One is called arans, which are frogs and toads they can jump really high. Frogs jump higher than toads because toads are bigger than frogs.  Some frogs and toads have special ability's like poison, gliding, camouflage or seeming bigger by puffing up.

The second one is urodeles which are newts and salamanders. They have long flat tails, arms and legs.

                                                                                                                                                           

The third one is apodas. They're called caecellians because their look is like a snake or a worm, but they're amphibians and don't have arms or legs. They also don't see really good and light affects they're eyes so they stay underground.

That's the end... Bye.

bony fish

                                        

Hey all you people out there! Today I'm talking about bony fish. Yeah, they're the fish that look like Nemo and his friends.


You guys might wonder how fish float so much better than us.  Well, they have this thing called a swim bladder.  A swim bladder helps fish float around everywhere like a balloon.  When it inflates they float up, when it deflates they sink down.

Hey, have you guys ever wondered how fish know when a predator is coming? Well, they have have a thing called a lateral line. They're organs that can sense movement in the surrounding water around them.

Fish breath using gills.  Oxygen from the water passes through them and when the oxygen runs out and turns into carbon dioxide, it goes back into the water.

Now let me tell you about the different types of fins like the dorsal fin.

The dorsal is at the back of a fish.  There can be up to three of them on one fish.  It's used to keep balance in the water.

The caudal fin is the tail fin.  It's used to swim away from predators.

The pectoral fin is on each side of a fish near its head.

The anal fin is at the bottom of a fish and is used to stay straight while swimming.

The pelvic fin is on each side of a fish  at the bottom and helps it go up or down.

The adipose fin is between the caudal and dorsal fins.

The lateral line on a fish is a sense organ that detects movements in water.



The flying fish actually glides using his pectoral fin by pushing them up. They live in tropical areas and can glide to as high as 160ft.

They can stay in air  for 45 seconds and can go up to a distance of 1,300ft. in one glide. They do this to escape from predators or to get somewhere fast.

The American Eel can go up to 6ft. long and live in fresh waters. They also eat dead fish, carrion and insects and can weigh up to 9 pounds.

These fish spawn once a year and stay in groups.   They have to jump over things, dodge predators and swim through obstacles to spawn.

Bye all you people.

Why leaves change color

Hey, Have you guys ever wondered how leaves change colors?  Well they don't really change, they have this thing called chlorophyll that makes them look green.

Leaves need a lot of sunlight to do photosynthesis and that's how they make chlorophyll.  It normally happens in the Spring and Summertime.  In those seasons, the sun normally stays up for 15 hours a day.

When fall comes, the sun is only up for 11 hours a day and the leaves don't have enough sun light to make chlorophyll. Since they can't appear green, they change colors.

Cartonoids are the chemicals that are in leaves when they turn orange or yellow.  Anthocyanins are in leaves when they turn red or purple.  The last chemical is called Tanins.  They make leaves look brown or black.

Now we're at the end of the leaf life cycle when it's winter and all of the leaves die because they have only have 9 hours of sunlight. That's not enough sunlight for the trees to do photosynthesis, which is how they make their food.

 

That's the leaf lifecycle...Bye.

Rays

Sciencedog is back. Today I'm talking about rays. Yeah, these fish are really similar to sharks because they're both cartilaginous fish. That means they don't have real bones.  Instead they have bones made out of cartilage. That's the stuff our noses and ears are made out of.

They can grow up to 6.5 ft. long and can weigh up to 790 lbs. Their bodies are smooth, unlike sharks that have sandpaper skin. They flap their arms to hover and swim over the ocean floor. They can also hide in the sand so predators can't find them.

Some sting rays and rays use their electric and venomous tails to fight off predators. Their tails are also really sharp and strong and can go through wooden boats.



These guys have to eat so let me tell what they eat. They eat mollusks,crustaceans and sometimes small fish, but most of the time they don't eat small fish because their eyes are on top of their heads and their mouths are at the bottom. They eat their prey by swooping down on them and surrounding them with their tails.

                                                    Like that video? cool right!!!

You have a better idea about how they look and what they do. Now it's time to name my favorite type of ray, the Thorn Back Ray.

This ray can be as much as 3ft. long and can weigh up to 9lbs. He is called the thorn back ray because he has a strong and thick spine.  It eats shrimp, crab, crustaceans and small fish using it's tail and ability to surround fish. It rests in seabeds like mud, gravel or sand.

Before I go I want to compare rays to skates. A lot of people think they're the same thing, but they're different.  Rays have kite shaped bodies and light tails.  Skates have triangular shaped bodies and heavy tails.

Bye and Have a happy Halloween! 

Sharks

Hey guys! Today I'm talking about sharks.Yeah, I know you think sharks are bad and only want to kill, but some sharks don't attack humans.

There's a bigger amount of humans that kill sharks than sharks that kill humans. It's really sad because now most sharks are endangered and some of them are harmless to humans.

Sharks have an awesome operating system with their teeth since they have three rows of teeth. When they lose a tooth, they replace it with another one.

Their skin feels like sand paper when you stroke it tail to head, but their skin is smooth head to tail. Sharks also have different talents like camouflaging, sensing electricity, jumping in the air, sucking up tons of water or glowing light.

Sharks can come in different types of colors like blue, orange, yellow, brown or leopard.

Now that I've talked about the sharks in general, it's time to talk about the different types of sharks. There are 400 species of sharks. My three favorite sharks are the hammerhead, short fin mako and whale shark.

 The short fin mako shark: This shark is one of the fastest sharks so far and it's really powerful.

This shark eats tuna, squid ,sea turtles, sword fish, marine mammals and other sharks. They live in warm waters and don't have good eye sight.  Instead they use their senses and their fast torpedo shaped body to hunt.

They can be found in the Gulf of Mexico, Argentina and Canada and can live up to 32 years old.

Hammerhead sharks have six senses. Their extra sense is to sense electricity or pulses in people's or animal's bodies.

This shark uses it's head to kill prey and there are eight species of them. The most dangerous ones are the great, smooth and scalloped hammerhead sharks.They can grow up to 23 ft. long and live in warm waters, but cold waters during the summer.



The whale shark is the largest fish because whales are marine mammals.

                                                                                                                                                                              

Whale sharks can go up to 80 ft. and 27,000 pounds. His mouth can suck up 1,500 gallons of water an hour. The whale shark is not dangerous to humans and eats small fish like shrimp.

That's all guys... bye.