A cat made for SPEED!

Hi its Cassowarygirl. Today we are learning about the fastest running animal on earth. You guessed  it, a CHEETAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
A cheetah is very very very very very VERY fast! A cheetah can run as fast as a sports car  – 112km per hour! Wow thats so fast!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Cheetahs have long legs and light bodies. This makes cheetahs perfect for catching its prey. A cheetah's life span is from 10 to 12 years – that means my brother would be a grandpa!!!
A cheetah isn't only famous for its incredible speed its also famous for its spot patterns. You can buy cheetah print clothing. Cheetahs have a black line under each eye. Those lines are to block the sun so the cheetah can look for is prey. Cheetahs climb on things like big rocks so they can get a good view so they can spot there prey.

Cheetahs are carnivores. A cheetah's main prey is the Thomson's gazelle. Cheetahs eat and drink very fast. They do this because there are lots of animals in the African savannah who want to steal a cheetah's lunch. Some people think that cheetahs roar but they don't roar at all. Believe it or not, but cheetahs actually chirp like a bird!

My article is now over.

bye-bye!

Cassowarygirl

Humungous hippos!

Hello and welcome to the article that's about an animal that some people think  are lazy and harmless but actually are very aggressive, fast, great underwater and has a very very very very (well you know what I mean) big mouth! Its the most dangerous animal in Africa and one of the most dangerous animals in the world.

Yep, you guessed it – today's article is about hippopotamuses .

You might be thinking hippos are great swimmers but to tell the truth hippos don't even swim! Hippos walk on their tippy-toes instead of swimming their like underwater ballerina!

Hippos have a big big big big big mouth. I'm 8 years old but if I stood in a hippos mouth there would still be some room! With such a big mouth you might think that hippos are carnivores but the truth is hippos are herbivores – very big and dangerous herbivores! Now you know animals that eat plants can still be dangerous... very dangerous! Hippos are herbivores so each night hippos come out out of their rivers and take HUGE mouthfuls of grass to eat.

Hippos are herbivores but they still sometimes attack other animals that are in their territory like crocodiles and lions. Hippos can bite a 3 meter long crocodile in half but still sometimes crocodiles walk on top of hippos backs.

I know this is kind of gross but, to mark their territory, male (boy) hippos poop. But they don't just poop, the spray their poop every where!  Don't only stay away from a hippo because they're the most dangerous animal in Africa also stay away from hippos because you might get sprayed with poop!

If you want to see a hippo just go to the zoo (or you can go on a safari in Kenya, Africa) because most zoos have hippos.

I know that you love hippos and I do too, but my article is now over.

bye-bye!!

cassowarygirl

Sharks aren't the only scary fish!!

Today we are learning about a fish but it is not just any fish – it is a man-eating fish!

Once there was a 11 year old boy swimming in a river in India. Something came and dragged him under water and he was never seen again. A couple of days later a two year old went into the same river and something pulled him under the water too. Then a water buffalo came to drink and something pulled it under the water.
It was a mystery – what was pulling people and animals under the water?
The water was too cold and too far up the river for bull sharks. It was too cold and too far up for crocodiles, and a gharial's snout wasn't the the right shape to do it.
Some people went swimming and they found a fish called a goonch.  The name goonch means "man-eating catfish" and it was probably the what dragged the 2 boys and the buffalo under the water.

A goonch can get very very BIG and have a very very BIG mouth with backwards pointing teeth so its prey can't escape. The goonch can be more than six feet long and weigh more than 200 pounds. That's bigger than my dad!

In India, sometimes dead people are put into the river for a funeral. The goonches fed on the dead people and liked it. Then they started eating living people too! Some scientists think that a goonch can smell out human flesh.

The goonch is also known as the giant devil catfish.

Goonches are cool but my article is now over.

bye bye!

cassowarygirl

This cool picture is from Animal Planet

Blue and beautiful!!

The biggest and friendliest macaw. Some people call them gentle giants.

What's  your favorite bird?
Mine is the cassowary, but there's another bird that's one of my favorites -  its the …
HYACINTH MACAW !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Some of you might be wondering, what is a hyacinth macaw?  Macaws are large parrots, and the hyacinth macaw is the biggest flying parrot in the world. Hyacinth macaws have blue feathers with bright yellow skin around their eyes and beak. Macaw feathers bend light to produce shimmery colours.

Since hyacinth macaw is a long name I'll just call them blue macaws for short.

Blue macaws are a endangered species in the wild. They live in the rainforest in Brazil and Bolivia. They eat nuts, seeds and fruit with their powerful beaks. Blue macaws nest between July and December.

Even his tongue is colourful!

Blue macaws are very, very smart birds - they use tools like sticks, twigs and rocks to get what they want. If there is a nut that the macaw can't reach, he or she might use a stick to get it.

Blue macaws are defiantly NOT flightless birds like the cassowary. Macaws like the hyacinth can fly and they are quite good pilots to be exact.

Since blue macaws are flying birds, I'll tell you how most birds can fly. All birds have hollow bones including flightless birds like the cassowary. Well, the bones are not completely hollow - there is this light spongy stuff inside. Also to fly, birds are covered in feathers. Flight feathers are strong and light and make flexible wings. Flying birds have to have big, strong breast muscles to flap their wings. 

Blue Macaws are great flyers!

Blue macaws can be the absolute PERFECT pets for you but I'm warning you blue macaws are usually quiet birds but when they're loud they're really loud! 

Blue macaws are very interesting birds but my article is now over -

Cassowarygirl.  
Bye bye!

Baby Macaws are really cute!!

Wild about turkeys!!!

We saw these wild turkeys at Lynde Shores Conservation area near Toronto!

Are you having a turkey for Christmas dinner? Guess what our article is about today?

TURKEYS!   You are probably thinking WHO IN THE WORLD WOULD WANT TO WRITE SOMETHING ABOUT TURKEYS? THEY ARE SO BORING!
But there is actually more to turkeys than you think!

Lots of people think that turkeys can't fly but they are WRONG. Wild turkeys can fly well. Wild turkeys are native birds in Canada and live in the woods. Turkeys are one of the biggest flying birds in North America.

To attract a mate and scare away other males, a male turkey puffs itself up and puts up its ginormous feathers on its tail. A male turkey is called a tom or a gobbler. A female turkey is called a hen. Babies are called a poult. 
 

This is a wild turkey hen. Not very pretty are they?

Turkeys like to eat acorns and sometimes they can get outsmarted by squirrels. A turkey sees a squirrel - the squirrel has an acorn. The squirrel knows that the turkey wants the acorn so he does a little trick. The squirrel digs a hole but he does not put the acorn in it. The turkey thinks that the squirrel put it in the hole so he walks over and looks inside the hole and puts his beak in to pick up the acorn…

ITS NOT THERE! The turkey has been fooled by the squirrel! So that shows you can never, ever trust a squirrel!

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Ps. I got a Cassowary stuffy and a Cassowary t-shirt from Santa!!

Meet Tiggy the Jaguar!

Reindeer!!!

Reindeer!!

Reindeer are very interesting animals. They live in Canada and in other arctic countries. In Canada, reindeer are called Caribou. Reindeer can be brown, white, grey and black. Reindeer are unusual because both males and females have antlers. Male reindeer use their antlers for fighting.

Reindeer are herbivores (that means they eat plants) but there is some evidence that reindeer also may eat small mammals, bird eggs and fish.

Reindeer are fast but there are some predators that are dangerous to them (predators are animals that hunt and eat other animals). Brown bears, polar bears, wolverines and wolves all eat reindeer. Golden Eagles will attack and eat reindeer calves.

STAMPEDE!!!

Reindeer have very good night vision. Lots of mammals (but not humans) have a gold layer at the back of their eye that reflects light and lets the animals see in the dark. Have you ever seen a cat's eyes shine in the dark? It is because of the reflector in its eye. Reindeer have this reflector too but in their eyes it can turn from gold to blue. The blue colour lets reindeer see even better in the dark than animals with gold in their eyes!

In Norway, sometimes people use reindeer to pull sleds. At the North Pole, Santa Claus uses magic reindeer to pull his sled too!

A reindeer sled in Norway

Reindeer are cool but my article is now over!

Bye bye!

cassowarygirl