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