Not All Starfish Have 5 Arms

The Sun Starfish (Pycnopodia Helianthoides) can have up to 24 arms and be 30 inches in diameter – they’re huge!  In fact, they are the largest starfish in the oceans.  They are quite pretty and come in shades of pink, purple, red, yellow and brown.  However, looks can be deceiving.  The Sun Starfish is a fierce predator.  It loves to eat sea urchin and it will also eat clams, sea cucumbers and its distant relatives – other starfish!  It is very fast and can move three feet per minute.  Like other starfish, they can regrow their arms if lost.  For example, if a Sun Starfish gets caught by a king crab, it can shed its arms to escape the crab’s grasp.  The Sun Starfish’s arms will grow back in a few weeks.

Watch this cool video of a Sun Starfish chasing sea urchins.

Who Is 179 Years Old?

Why Jonathan, of course.  Jonathan is a Seychelles giant tortoise who is 179 years old.  He was born in 1832.  He was born before computers, telephones and cars were invented.  He was born before the Civil War.  Jonathan lives on the island of St. Helena, off the coast of Africa.  He spends his time on the grounds of the governor’s residence which is called Plantation House.  Jonathan is similar to Galapagos giant tortoises which weigh up to ¼ of a ton and have shells over 3 feet across.

So why do these tortoises live so long?  Scientists do not have a complete answer; more research needs to be done.  Some scientists theorize that it is partly because of the tortoise’s strong shell which serves as protective armor against predators.  Scientists also theorize that tortoises have their young at an older age and therefore put all their energy when they are young towards surviving.

Ugh, skunk!

It is that time of year in Chicago – the skunks are coming out, we can smell them!  The last two years in a row, our little white dog was skunked in February.  I am hoping we avoid the smelly hat trick this year.  Have you ever smelled a skunk?  They smell like a mixture of rotten eggs, burnt rubber and garlic.

So, why do skunks smell?  Skunks spray as a defensive mechanism.  Skunks release a fluid from two scent glands on their backsides.  The spray can fly through the air from five to sixteen feet!  For example, when my little white dog goes up to a skunk and wants to play with it, (see picture of Cortland after a trip to the groomer) the skunk gets scared, turns around, lifts his tail and sprays him in the face.  The spray bothers Cortland, burns his eyes and makes him sneeze.  While Cortland is dealing with that issue, the skunk can run away.  Skunks spray the smelly scent to protect themselves from predators.

By the way, the best way I have found to clean Cortland is equal parts hydrogen peroxide, baking soda and Palmolive soap.  I didn’t want to use tomato juice and turn the little white dog pink.

Here is a great video of the chemical compounds in the skunk spray.  Here is a video of baby skunks - they are kind of cute when they are small!

Why do kangaroos carry their babies in a pouch?

Joeys (the name for a baby kangaroo) are born at a very young age and are about the size of jelly bean.  At birth, they crawl up the mother’s body and enter a pouch where they attach to a teat to feed.  As it grows, the joey begins to spend more time outside of the pouch and fully leaves the pouch of its mother at about 7 to 10 months of age.

Kangaroos are marsupials – meaning that they give birth to very young babies that cannot survive outside their mothers.  Koalas and opossums are also marsupials and have pouches. There are 47 different types of kangaroos including Wallabies (the smallest) and the Red Kangaroo (the largest).  Kangaroos are herbivores.  They eat grasses and young shoots of plants. Kangaroos need very little water to survive and can go for months without drinking any at all.

Here is a cute video of a baby jumping out of her mother’s pouch. 

This video is from National Geographic – it is a fairly graphic video of the birth of a joey and his journey to his mother’s  pouch.