Saturday, June 30, 2012

Red Panda

Red pandas are adorable, but are they pandas, raccoons, foxes?  They look a bit like each...find out, and learn more about them with these videos and links.

Keti the Red Panda at the Calgary Zoo:


Adorable video of a red panda at the Taronga Zoo in Australia - the sound quality isn't that great, but there are subtitles, and you can hear the little red panda's voice:




Red panda coloring page HERE.

Red panda fact page with several full color pictures, and a link to a coloring page at the bottom HERE.

A brief article about the naming of two red panda cubs at the National Zoo in Washington, D.C. HERE.

National Geographic video of Farley the Red Panda HERE.  Discusses the care of Farley, a baby red panda.

Learn about red panda conservation at the Chengdu Research Base of Giant Panda Breeding in China.  Although the research base originally served primarily the giant panda, they also now have a dedicated facility for the red panda.  Read more HERE.

Some great information and links about the red panda and conservation efforts at the World Wildlife Fund.  Read more HERE.

Red panda facts and more from the Lincoln Park Zoo  in Chicago.  Be sure to scroll towards the bottom for a video and photos.  Click HERE.

Toby the red panda at the Houston Zoo:



Friday, June 29, 2012

Monarch Butterflies

As a graduation present, my lovely friend, Angie, gave out live Monarch butterflies that she had hatched herself.  She presented a little box, saying, "Close your eyes and make a wish!  When you open your eyes your wish will be carried away to be made true!"  My son and I closed our eyes, made our wish, and opened my little box.  It was amazing!  The butterfly was beautiful, and walked on my hand and along my arm before flying away.

Learner.org is a fantastic site with loads of different projects about nature, cycles of the moon, the seasons and more. I've linked their Monarch Butterfly Migration project and information here.  The project has several components to take part in, including a paper butterfly migration option.  Although the paper butterfly migration is meant for school groups, I would imagine that a homeschool group or co-op might be able to take part.

National Geographic Kids is a wonderful site with factual information, pictures, videos,and more.  We used it when my son was in 4th and 5th grades, and we learned about animals from around the world.

Monarch butterfly video from National Geographic - discusses natural and human damage to Monarch habitats and the effects on the butterflies in both the United States and Mexico.


This video starts with flamingos, but also covers butterflies in swarms.  The video discusses the advantages of swarming behavior.  Please note, there is a joke about a singles bar.  Thought I should let you know just in case you watch and the kiddies ask what that is....  If you scroll to about 1:35, you can watch just the Monarch portion.

National Geographic Monarch butterfly coloring page HERE.

Monarch butterfly life cycle coloring page HERE.

Multiple coloring pages HERE.




Lifecycle of the Monarch butterfly from the Chicago Nature Museum.  This is a time lapse video with music and subtitles but no actual audio narration.


Monarch Watch has more great info about Monarch butterflies, as well as information about determining gender, about parasite effects on Monarch populations, tracking, and tagging.

This post is cross listed at our other blog, M and J in a Nutshell.

Sloths!

I told some friends that I was going to write a blog post about sloths, and my friend, Susan, said, "But you are no sloth! You are the opposite! Go! Go! Go!"  Well, I'm not writing about that kind of sloth. I'm posting about the animal!

These guys are so cute, but sloooooowwwwww...  They make turtles look fast!

This video is part of the BBC Earth series.  I love how David Attenborough pronounces "sloth" - so different from the way Americans say the word. Check it out:


From National Geographic, a sloth coloring page HERE.

Another sloth coloring page HERE.

National Geographic Kids has a fantastic page with facts, pictures, video, sound and more about sloths HERE.

More fun facts and information about sloths at Boing Boing, HERE.

Oh my goodness!  Did you know there is a sloth sanctuary in Costa Rica? You can learn more about the Sloth Sanctuary in Costa Rica HERE.  And, watch this video about the sanctuary, from The Cute Show:


Find an incredibly extensive fact sheet about the two-toed sloth from the San Diego Zoo HERE.

Learn about the extinct ground sloth HERE - also from the San Diego Zoo.

A printable (PDF) fact sheet for the kids to fill out HERE.  It has a picture to color, and a box for your child to write down facts about the sloth.

The actress Kristen Bell is a freak for sloths! This one isn't educational, but it is funny!


This post is cross listed at our other blog, M and J in a Nutshell.

Updated:    I just began drawing the animals I am blogging about.  Here is the adorable sloth!  You may use this file for personal use only...Sloth Coloring Page