Label: Animals

May 2, 2011

Are you a fan of Seymour Simon’s 3D books? If so, you’ll want to know that CREATURES OF THE DARK :: 3D is in Scholastic’s Lucky Book Club starting today. The book comes with 3D glasses, and it is 24 pages chock full of right-in-your-face views of fascinating animals that live their lives in the dark.

This book is only available to order for the month of May, so ask your teacher for a flyer and get it while you can!

April 28, 2011

As part of our month-long Earth Day celebration, we are introducing a new weekly treat on SeymourSimon.com. Regular users know that every Tuesday brings a new "Cool Photo of the Week." And, every Friday the website is updated with a new Silly Animal Joke or Riddle.

And now we have a new special feature. Welcome to Stupendous Video Thursday!  We start with this clip of two young polar bears play-fighting. I think you will agree that this is an absolutely stupendous piece of video.

Speaking of Silly Animal Jokes and Riddles, I have a polar bear joke.

Question: What do you call an angry Polar Bear ?

Answer: You don’t call him anything, you just run.

What are you doing this Earth Month to contribute to the global effort to pledge a Billion Acts of Green? Click on "Comments," at the bottom of any Earth Day story, and tell me how you are making a difference. We will continue to accept your ideas through Thursday, April 28. Then, on Friday 4/29, we will publish all your comments in one big article, to honor each writer’s promise to protect our planet, and inspire other readers to do the same.

April 26, 2011

This photograph, taken in the wild at night, is of a Yellow Cricket Tree Frog (Dendropsophus microcephalus) in the middle of his mating call. 

These tiny frogs can be found throughout most of Central America, and some South American countries. It lives on the edges of the rainforest, mostly in marshy areas, ponds, and other pools of water.

This species of frog experiences metachrosis (meh-tah-CROW-sis, which means "color change"). During the night, its back is a light yellow color with various brown or tan markings. During the day, it darkens to a light brown with darker brown or red markings. We can tell that this is a photograph of a breeding male, because of his yellow vocal sac (the balloon-like bulge under his chin).

During the mating season, the male frogs gather in large groups of thousands of frogs around the breeding areas and call out from grasses at the edge of water. When they really get going, humans sometimes think the quick "creek-eek-eek-eek" call is being made by crickets. These frogs work hard when they are looking for a mate, producing between 200 to 380 notes per minute at their peak! Even though there are thousands of them making so many short noises, scientists have found that each male is careful to avoid having his calls overlap with others, because he wants to stand out from the other males in the group.

If you want to hear the sound of the calls of the yellow tree frog (and other frogs at well), click on this link. There are seven different frog calls captured in this video, which is a little dark because it was shot in the wild, at night. This frog is the last one on the clip (about 2½ minutes in).

Photo: Brian Gratwicke

Video: Nick Sly 

April 15, 2011

I had a great "double Skype" session today with third and fourth graders in two schools in Durham and Middlefield, Connecticut. They have been studying my books and skyping with each other, and today all three of us did a Skype session together.

This is a very good question, and one that I am asked quite often. For a shot like this one, of a rattlesnake’s mouth and fangs, the photographer uses a bit of trickery called a "telephoto lens." That lens takes a picture that seems as though you are very, very close, when in fact, you are safely far away. Nobody is going to get THAT close to a poisonous snake!

The round area with a dark slit (at the bottom of the rattlesnake’s mouth) is a duct for releasing the venom. You can learn more about that and see a diagram at this link. 

Thanks to Mrs. Kohs and everyone who helped to organize today’s Skype session. I really enjoyed talking with you all!

Photograph by Anup Shah/Dembinsky Photo Associates

April 13, 2011

What animal can . . .

• run so fast, its feet don’t always touch the ground? 

• weigh more than 2,000 pounds?

• sense people’s emotions by their smell?

•  . . . and wear shoes?

A horse, of course! Horses are some of the most fascinating - and historically important - creatures on Earth. Are you, or your class, interested in horses? We received this letter last week from a teacher:

"Your books are awesome and so engaging for elementary school, middle, and high school students.  I am a 4th grade English Language Arts Teacher and I plan to get your book, HORSES, to use as part of a unit.  Does your book discuss the impact of horses on Native Americans for hunting buffalo?"  

Our answer was "yes," Seymour Simon’s book HORSES includes the role of horses in American history, including their role in making Native Americans "the mounted buffalo hunters and warriors of the Great Plains."

Then we realized that we had never uploaded the free Teacher Guide which you can download from Seymour’s website and use with HORSES. We have added it now now, and it is quite extensive, with Questions for Before and After Reading, Activities, Additional Resources, and a Student Activity page.

If you haven’t yet tried one of Seymour Simon’s Teacher Guides (which are suited for either classroom or home use), try this one today!

All photographs from Seymour Simon’s HORSES (HarperCollins, 2006)

April 12, 2011

Today’s "Cool Photo of the Week" features 15-year-old Regina Mayer, who lives in Germany and wanted a horse in the worst way. Unfortunately, her parents didn’t agree.

So, Regina did the next best thing. When this cow, named Luna, was born on her family’s farm, Regina decided to train her. She put a halter on the calf and started taking her for long walks in the woods. Then, she tried walking her with a saddle on, and finally, she sat in the saddle. Now, she not only rides Luna, but she has taught the cow how to jump!

Photo: Kerstin Joensson / AP

April 11, 2011

The Live Science blog has done a wonderful article, a list of the 500 Cutest Animals. The author, Tom Chao, wrote: "When it comes to looks, the animal kingdom has some cuties (and some not-so cuties). So the TechMediaNetwork editorial team decided to take on the challenge of ranking them, after extensive debate, in reverse order of cuteness."

We think that Seymour Science readers will love this post. It is full of great photographs, like this one of a Red Panda, also known as a "firefox."

Knowing our readers, I have a feeling you all will want to debate this, as well. Which ones do you think are the cutest?

Photo: Julie Larsen Maher/Wildlife Conservation Society 

April 10, 2011

This is our Chipmunk.

He lives in the screened-in porch on the ground floor of our house. He gets in and out through a tear in the screen. Cute, isn’t he?

I haven’t named him. Do you have any ideas?

April 5, 2011

This insect-eating lizard is a Mwanza Flat-headed Rock Agama (Agama mwanzae), a common species found in Southern Africa. They live inside the thatch of huts and other small spaces, coming out during the day to soak up the sun on warm rocks and to eat. If they are caught out in the open, agamas stand up on their hind legs and run quickly to a safe place.

Some people look at the male’s strong colors -  head, neck and shoulders are bright red or violet, and the body dark blue - and say it should be called the "Spiderman Lizard." What do you think?

Photo: Christian Mehlführer

April 2, 2011

As our regular readers know, there is a new SCIENCE JOKE or RIDDLE every Friday on the homepage of SeymourSimon.com. This week’s joke: Did you hear about the dog that could do multiplication? Click here to see the rest of the joke.

And since it’s New Joke Friday, we thought we’d let you in on some exciting news. Seymour Simon and his very funny illustration partner, Dennis Kendrick, are almost finished with a new eBook! Readers who are fans of the SILLY DINOSAUR RIDDLES book will want to be on the lookout for this one. It is more of your favorite animals jokes and riddles, this time about animals that you might find in a zoo.

You will be able to buy this exciting new book, and lots of other exclusive Seymour Simon eBooks when you download Seymour Simon’s free mobile app for your iPhone, iPod Touch or Android device. And, there will be a new, enhanced version just for the iPad in the coming weeks.

SILLY ZOO ANIMAL JOKES AND RIDDLES should be available in early May.

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