Owl Pellet Reflection

6.64% bird, 1.34% shrew, 21.14% mouse, 17.33% vole, and 50.18% rat were eaten by the owls that we investigated.

          Our class calculated all the different types owl prey we have found in owl pellets we dissected about a month ago.  We found out that owls eat rats, birds, shrews, mice, and voles.  The biggest percentage of animals eaten were rats - more than fifty percent!  Above is a pie chart of the different percentages of the animals owls ate that the class has recorded. 
          When ranking the most frequently consumed owl prey, I would say that first comes rat, then vole, then mouse, bird, and lastly, shrew.  I was surprised there, because rats are among the biggest of the prey animals listed above.  I expected smaller shrews, or even mice to be at the top of the list, because they are smaller and easier to catch.  I was wrong, since rats are at the top, and maybe that's because rats are slower and easier to see.
          If a predator expends energy when hunting, and it can either hunt 35 insects (1g each), or 1 vole (35g), it would be much smarter to hunt the vole.  If you have to hunt once, stop and eat, hunt again, stop and eat, it would be like eating a snack every five minutes.  If an owl caught one vole, it would be like eating one dinner.  You wouldn't have to keep on wasting energy getting up, walking to the kitchen, and preparing the snack every time.  It would take up a lot more energy for an owl to hunt for 35 insects rather than 1 vole.
          If the shrew population went into a deep decline, I seriously doubt that it would affect the owl population much.  Only about 1% of an owl's diet consists of shrew.  That's one in a hundred prey animals.  An owl can live without one tiny piece of prey for a day. 

Current Events - Goldfish Sacrifice Their Lives for South Korean Toilets

          According to a certain source, goldfish are sacrificing their lives in order to check the water purity of South Korean toilets.  Note that they are not doing this willingly - the Convention and Exhibition Center is hosting this event and are using the fish to do this.  The goldfish are testing the purity of water released into Korean restrooms.  The testing is very simple: if the goldfish dies, the water is impure, but if the animal lives, the liquid is fit for restroom water.  The People for Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), protest against the South Korean way of protecting the government toilets.  They state that fish can feel pain the same way as dogs, cats, and humans, and that it's just as important to protect them as well as the government.  Picture of goldfish below.

           I think that the South Korean government should NOT be doing this.  It's totally unfair the poor fish, and there is tons of new technology that can determine how clean water is out there.  It is really cruel to hurt animals just to see if bathroom water is sanitary enough!  I agree with the PETA.  There are many better solutions to goldfish on this planet, and we shouldn't be harming creatures that have every right to live as us, to determine something as low as restroom water.  It just isn't fair.

Originally written by: Discovery News employee
Written on: Novemeber 12, 2010
For more information, you can go to: http://news.discovery.com/animals/goldfish-water-purity-g20.html

Human Footprint Reflection

          When thinking about the human footprint, there are a couple of terms that need to be defined - sustainability, human footprint, and ecological footprint.  "Sustainability" is being able to endure, to keep on going.  I think that trees could be an example of a sustainable resource, because we can keep planting them whenever we cut them down and they will go on.  "Human footprint" is the mark that Homo sapiens, as a species, create on planet Earth.  We leave a trail of pollution, trash, and death behind us - our human footprint.  An ecological footprint is what we use to measure the quantity of nature that is allotted to us, and how much we actually consume.  Earth has absolutely EVERYTHING to do with our ecological footprint.  If we use up too many natural resources, global warming will take over, the polar ice caps will melt, many different species of animals will go extinct, islands will be flooded over, hundreds of thousands of things that COULD go wrong WILL go wrong.  Some things that could make a deeper water ecological footprint would be to take too many showers, fill our baths up to their full extent, and use the dishwasher every day.   When we deepen our transportation footprint, we actually are accessing things that we WANT, but don't necessarily NEED.  Some ways that could make our energy footprint bigger would be to leave our phones plugged in all night when they're already full of juice and leaving the lights on when you really don't need to.  We help make our garbage footprint larger by wasting food by throwing it out and not recycling items that can be recycled.  The last category of the ecological footprint, food, can be deepened by always buying packaged foods from distant countries.  When we consume too much, we throw out too much, which means we fill up the land mines and areas of the ocean with trash.  Animals on land and in sea attempt to eat some of that garbage, and either choke or die of poisoning.  That then wrecks the food chain, and a whole lot more animals die because of that.
            I have used both websites to calculate my human footprint, and I got pretty similar answers.  One site told me that if everyone in the world lived like me, we would have to use up 2.3 planet Earths, and the other told me we would have to have 2.4 planet Earths.  I think that my family and I really use up a lot of water by each taking 1 shower a day, running the dishwasher almost every day, and traveling to different continents over the the seasonal breaks.  What we could do to try to lessen our footprint would be to unplug appliances that do not need to be charged.  Sometimes, my mom leaves her laptop charged in for days at a time, and our family ipod is almost always plugged in, even when it's full of juice already.  We could also stop eating meat as much as we do now, and try to eat more locally grown fruits and vegetables.  I thought that my family was pretty eco-friendly, but after I did the surveys, I feel much more humbled about it.
            Reading about global and personal earthly impacts really surprised me.  I never expected that only 1/3200 of the the Photic Zone where there is enough sunlight that breaks through the ocean water to enable photosynthesis to take place.  I thought that most of the ocean was sunny and fertile.  I also feel bad that we humans use about 1/2 of the land on the Earth.  We are only one out of millions and billions of species on the planet.  We use and trash one half of the planet, and leave only half of it for all the rest of the animals that need to survive.  I was also really surprised about the fact that the wealthiest 5% of the world's population eat about 45% of all the meat and fish consumed by humans, use 58% of energy, and own 87% vehicles of the world, while only 5% of fish and meat is eaten, 4% of energy is consumed, and 1% of the world's vehicles are owned, by 20% of the world's least wealthy population.  I never realized that there was so much difference between the wealthy and the poor.
            Watching the video,  "Human Footprint," in class was also a very impacting experience.  I never thought that just one person could consume SO MUCH in their entire life.  Watching all those eggs falling down from that bucket was, I think, the thing that I remember best.  I feel so bad for killing all those chick-to-be's already, and I've only lived 12 years of my life! :(

Current Events - Deformed Bird Beaks Hint at Toxins in Nature

         A beak abnormality in birds such as chickadees located in the Pacific Northwest and Alaska can help scientists find hidden toxins that we didn't know existed outside factories before.  These poor birds are growing beaks at a terribly alarming rate - these beaks not only grow, but they can curve and even cross with each other.  These problems cause the animals feeding problems.

As you can see in this picture I uploaded, chickadees can't open their beaks all the way, which prevents them from cracking seeds and all the other things they need to do to eat.  Beak deformities are very rare in adult birds, and since there are so many of them altered, people can tell that something is wrong.  According to the article, birds only grow weird beaks when exposed to parasites, viral infections, and strange contaminants in the environment.  When a lot of birds are affected with deformed beaks, it proves that something has altered the environment they live in. Sadly, the article didn't state whether or not they have a solution for this problem, so I do not know what is being done to help the poor birds.
       I think that this is very serious.  If the chickadees have trouble eating or mating because of these weird beak problems, that could lead to a large decrease in the amount of local birds.  If the birds are gone, a decrease in the amount of bird predators could follow.  It would be disrupting the food chain, and a lot of animal lives could be lost because of it.  I think that scientists should find out what is causing this, and they should try to solve it.  It's not fair to the birds and to all the other animals that will be affected by a decrease in the bird population of Alaska.

Originally written by: Krist Mahr
Written On: November 8, 2010
For more information, go to: http://ecocentric.blogs.time.com/2010/11/08/tweaked-beaks-how-bird-deformities-help-flag-undetected-toxins/

Current Events - HARRY POTTER IS KILLING OWL WILDLIFE IN INDIA

          A news article has stated that Harry Potter might be causing decreases of wild owls in India.  According to India's wildlife minister, Jairam Ramesh, when Indian children become fans of Harry Potter, they pressure their parents for Harry Potter paraphernalia.  Since Harry Potter's pet and one of his best friends is his owl, Hedwig, those parents contact illegal animal smugglers (poachers), in order to get other owls for their kids. 

Harry Potter Snowy Owl

          According to another source, thousands of owls are already taken from the wild and killed every year at the Indian festival, Diwali.  This is because superstitious people/worshippers urge their followers to use items such as owl fat, bones, eyeballs, egg shells, skulls, feathers, livers, claws, hearts, and many other organs and owl parts in their rituals.
          If too many owls are killed, the amount of owl prey in India will most definitely increase.  This means that the rabbits, rats, and mice that eat grass and seeds may overpopulate, which could cause a decrease in grass.  This could cause a decrease in the mice and rodent population which, overall, would cause a decrease in other predators such as coyotes and wolves that live on mice and rabbits.
          My personal opinion on this is negative.  I don't think that children and parents need to illegally steal owl in order to satisfy Harry Potter cravings.  Thousands of children that read Harry Potter live without owls, and if a parent will contact a POACHER to get the animals, then they are showing that they are bad parents.  They are spoiling their children, AND setting a bad example to the kids.  Owls are also hard to care for, because they need to be let out periodically for the fresh air, and no one knows if they'll actually come back.

Originally written by:  Jennifer Viegas
Written on: November 5, 2010
For more information on the owl issue, go to: http://news.discovery.com/animals/harry-potter-is-hurting-owls-in-india.html

Current Events - Assassin Bugs Can Eat Spiders!

A new study shows that a type of insect called the "assassin bug" can trick spiders into becoming the opposite of their usual role in nature - prey.  These insects pluck different spider web strings, and these vibrations lure in the spider owners.  Assassin bugs can mimic a tired insect caught in a web almost perfectly!  Once the spider has come near, the killer bug gently taps it while getting in position to attack.  Once in position, it stabs its victim with its proboscis, and can kill the spider within 10 seconds.

Some more studies into this insect show that certain species of assassin bugs may be able to help get rid of a certain parasitic disease.  According to scientists, when tourists visit South America, they get bitten by assassin bugs, and some of those bugs carry parasites in them that spread into the bitten person.  That person can stay healthy for 20-30 years without any sign of symptoms for the disease, and that gives the parasite as much time as it needs to get a good hold on the internal organs of the body.  By studying the behaviors of assassin bugs, maybe we'll be able to tell how the parasites get into them, and prevent that from happening - stopping the disease from spreading to humans and causing thousands of deaths.

Assassin Bug

Some other assassin bugs that eat termites could be used for pest control.  They, instead of luring spiders near, use dead termites to attract live ones near them, in able to get dinner.  We could probably save a lot of pesticides, money, and toxins going into the atmosphere if we used natural ways of getting rid of pests, such as assassin bugs, then the normal bug-killer.

Written by: Jennifer Viegas
Written on: October 27, 2010
For more information, you can go to: http://news.discovery.com/animals/assassin-bugs-spiders.html

I think that it's very interesting that predators such as spiders can be turned into prey.  It's like lions being eaten by cheetahs!  It would be awesome if we could prevent Chagas disease from spreading - we could save SO MANY lives!  Less families will be torn apart, less children will die early, less people will get chronic illnesses!  As long as we don't hurt the assassin bugs in the process, I think that it's a great idea.
I also think that using termite-eating assassin bugs to get rid of termites instead of some sort of toxic termite-killer, we could really help the environment more!  Factories wouldn't have to make as much termite-killer, which would reduce the amount of pollution produced, and then we wouldn't be putting chemicals out into our backyards by using the termite-killer!  Assassin bugs might even be cheaper than chemicals - it would be very economical.
All in all, I thought that this was a very interesting article and I learned a lot.

Current Events - 30 Great Whites Share One Whale

      Around Cape Town, South Africa, more than thirty great white sharks have been spotted - all sharing one 36 ft long Brydes whale.  According to scientists, this whale had been dead before it had been attacked by these voracious predators, and so it was an easy meal.  Right after the whale had been smelled or seen by sharks, they swam right over to gorge themselves, and that attracted more and more.  It took about a week for the sharks to finish the whale, but most of them ate during the first two days of its death.
     It was recorded that the largest sharks, 4 meters long, had more power over the smaller sharks, and so took advantage of their size to get the best, biggest, and tastiest pieces. Some small sharks were sighted with puncture marks on their bodies from bigger sharks - it is believed that they forgot their place and didn't treat the bigger sharks with the proper respect, and so got bitten as reminder to show them where they belonged. 
     Usually, sharks hunt and eat seals that swim around Cape Island.  I watched Shark Week over the summer, and I noticed that sharks almost swallow their prey whole.  They were super fast at eating, and they weren't the pickiest.  According to scientists, since there was so much food, it gave the sharks opportunity to eat side by side with minimum squabbling, and they could become choosy.
   They preferred the blubber from the whale over the flesh.  It appears that they can tell the difference, and blubber is richer and has more calories than flesh, so all in all, it's a good choice.  Some sharks would make a 'test bite' in places that hadn't had the flesh removed so as to make sure there was some blubber there before eating, and others spit out pieces of muscle they accidentally ate.  This was interesting, because it shows why most sharks won't attack humans again after their first bite.  For more information, go to: http://news.discovery.com/animals/great-white-sharks-photographed-eating-36-foot-whale.html

     I thought that this article was very interesting, because I've always thought of sharks as the kind of predators that will fight for every scrap of food - blubber or not.  I think that this is a good survival skill, because instead of wasting their belly-space on non-fattening, less rich, and less nutritional meat, they're getting the maximum amount of vitamins they can.  It's kind of like humans, white bread, and brown bread.  We grow full on white bread, when there isn't very much nutritional value when we could be eating brown bread and getting all the nutrients we can.  Sharks are very smart that way.