Dear Eco

Greetings!

I have received another great email! Two brothers were walking through the woods and they found a skull. They wanted to know what animal it was from so they sent me a picture:

Here was my response:

Thank you for those great pictures! I love being a part of your family of Eco's! I am so happy to hear that you go hiking with your family. I love hiking. 

I think it is an opossum's skull. The size makes sense and also it has those big side eye sockets. Animals that have large eye sockets on more of the side of their head are considered "prey" animals - as opposed to forward-facing eye sockets like humans or owls which mean they are "predator" animals. Prey and predator are just words that tell us where an animal would fall on a food chain. "Prey" means they would be toward the bottom and "Predator" means they would be towards the top. 

The reason prey animals have their eyes more on the side of their head is so they can easily see if their are any predators chasing them. Predator animals use their forward facing eyes to be a better hunter. It's easier to focus on what's in front of you when you have both eyes facing forward. 

Great find! Keep looking for interesting things on your hikes! I can't wait to see more pictures of what you find out there. 

Keep exploring!

 

Here is a picture of me with my new friends! 

Until next time my friends,

Eco

Dear Molly

Greetings friends!
I recently received a great email from one of my dear friends, Molly. I want to share her message and her great question with all of you!

Here is her letter:

   Dear Eco,

I have ants in my house. 

The sun is out and it's really beautiful to play outside.

We have bees living in our wall.  We found a hole in the brick. The bees left yellow powder right outside the hole. Then the bees plugged up their hole all by themselves.  What kind of bees are they?

Good bye Eco, I love you.
Love, Molly

I also want to share my response with all of you, too. Some of you may have the same question!

Dear Molly,

Bees sometimes can be a problem. But usually its only a problem that lasts for a short time instead of forever. They only live in a hive for a short time. Then they leave and find a new place. I found a really cool video about getting bees out of a house. Make sure you ask your parents permission to watch it! http://www.wimp.com/beesextracted/

 I would guess that you have honey bees. Honey bees like to live in colonies (alot of family members living in the same place). There are alot of bees that live around us don't live in colonies, too. They live by themselves.

The yellow powder is pollen from flowers! When a bee eats from a flower it gets the pollen all over its legs. When it brings that pollen to other flowers it helps those flowers make baby flowers. So when they come back home to their hive it just gets knocked off their legs.

Great questions Molly!

Love,

Eco


Thank you so much Molly! I can't wait for more amazing emails!
 Eco

Why did the turtle cross the road....

Greetings friends!

In the past week I have found 2 turtles at Eldridge park that have been quite a distance from the pond!



Here is a picture of the most recent turtle's location.

The one before that was found under the swings on the playground! Both of the turtles were of the same species - Red-eared slider. Here is a picture of one close up

You can see why its named a Red-eared slider! Those red markings are not on any other turtle in this area so it's easy to identify. They are often kept as pets. They started showing up in our ponds and streams 30 years ago. It's possible that people released them into our water systems after buying them as pets.

The turtles I have found out of the pond have been males. But the females nest from mid-May into early July. Sometimes when people find turtles away from their pond its a female looking for a good spot to make their nests. All turtles lay their eggs on land - not in the water!

I tried to ask this turtle for a ride but he was so nervous he wouldn't walk with me on its back.

Whenever you find a turtle on land or on the side of a road be very careful when going near to it. Some turtles, like the snapping turtle, are dangerous and can really hurt you. It's better to leave wildlife alone when you come close. Just give animals enough space so they don't feel scared. Sometimes when animals feel scared they might try to defend themselves by biting or scratching.

Environmental teachers, ecologists, and other professionals in the environmental field could be called on for help when figuring out what to do with wildlife that might get in the way of human activity.

Don't forget! We share this world with all the animals that live here. It's their home, too.
Until next time my friends!
Eco