Meet a Tarantula and a Gopher Snake!

Guest post by Acacia, Etai, Alexandra, and Royce

As part of our animal adaptation science unit, Beverly Critcher 

from Wildlife Experience will bring wild animals
that are native to North America
to Mrs. Yollis' class for careful
scientific observation.

They are a non-profit wildlife education organization that brings native and exotic animals to schools and teaches children about the importance of our natural world.

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 Rose Haired Tarantula

 A spider is also called an arachnid (uh•rack•nid). An arachnid has two body parts, eight legs, and usually lives on land. Some arachnids are: scorpions, spiders, ticks, and mites.

 Here is a rose haired tarantula that can be found in South America all the way to Mexico. It has several adaptations. For one, the body is covered with hair that is pointy and jagged. If a predator tries to eat the arachnid, the hairs come off in the predator's mouth. While the predator is busy trying to get rid of the hairs, the spider crawls away. It also has spinnerets at the back of its body. It used them to make spider webs!

A tarantula has eight eyes since it can't move its head to see in all directions.

 

 Miss C. walked around with room with Ocho, and we took a close look. Why is this tarantula named Ocho?

This is a shedding of the rose haired tarantula. As you can see, it looks exactly like a rose tarantula, but it is hollow and all skin!

Here is a picture of a picture that shows baby spiders. :-) They are called spiderlings.

 

 Here is a picture of a picture of a female black widow spider. The female black widow has a red pattern on her belly that looks like an hourglass. It is a warning that it is poisonous! The male black widow makes a delicious meal for the female. That's right, she eats him! 

This is a brown recluse spider which can be found in our area. It contains a lot of poisonous venom, more that the black widow! Miss C. told us a story about a teacher who had captured a brown recluse for an animal that eats spiders. It was the only time that Miss C ever saw a brown recluse in the wild.

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Gopher Snake

Miss C. also brought a beautiful snake. Students got to touch the scales of the gopher snake with two fingers. The coloration of the snake helps it blend in with its surroundings. That type of coloration is call camouflage. The gopher snake can mimic the rattlesnake's rattle by shaking its tail in dried leaves. Predators think this gopher snake is a rattler and move away rapidly.

This is a photo of the gopher snakes shed, or molt. Notice the snake even shed the skin over its eyes. Miss C. called those eye caps. Snake do not have eyelids.

This is the shed of a red tailed boa. This exotic snake is now 10 feet long, but will grow to be approximately 18 feet as an adult.  This boa is so heavy that the law requires that two handlers when showing it to students.

What arachnids or reptiles have you seen in the wild?

Do you know any other animals that molt? 

Research some additional facts and share! 

Wildlife Experience: Gopher Snake and Barred Owl

Today, Beverly  from Wildlife Experience was in our class.

They are a non-profit wildlife education organization that brings native and exotic animals to schools and teaches children about the importance of our natural world.

 

To book a program for your southern California school, click here.

 First, the class talked about animals that come out at night (nocturnal) 

as well as day dwellers (diurnal).

Diurnal  animals:  lizards, squirrels, crows and ravens, snakes, hawks, and vultures

Most California animals are nocturnal:  coyotes, owls, raccoons, bats, bobcats, mountain lions, and possums

Beverly said that wildlife is all around, even if we don't see it.  We can look at what they leave behind and know that they are around:  bones, fur, owl pellets (if you open the pellets, you'll find undigested bones!), feathers, tracks, dung or scat.

Meet a Gopher Snake

The class got to learn about a gopher snake. Beverly said that gopher snakes often retreat into gopher holes during hot days. That is why they are called gopher snakes! These reptiles are found all over California.

Snakes are cold-blooded, are hatched from eggs, have lungs, but do not have eyelids. They smell with their tongues!

Some people thought that the snake might feel slimy. When we touched the snake, we discovered they are not gooey, but feel like rubber or a basketball! 

Gopher snakes are not poisonous. These special snakes have a color adaptation. Their color pattern looks a lot like a rattlesnake, so predator get confuse. In addition,  gopher snakes employ a clever behavioral adaptation. They will shake the tip of their tails in the sand or in dry leaves to pretend like they are a rattlesnake! Great strategy for survival!

 

Snakes grow their entire lives, and here is a recent shed from this gopher snake.

Here you can see the that they shed their eye caps!

Beverly shared this  photo of a cobra snake.

On the reverse of the photo, she shared that a snake has a backbone, which makes it a vertebrate animal!

Snakes are near the top of the food chain.

Some animals eat snakes: raccoons, owls, some hawks, and coyotes.

Meet a Barred Owl named Hoot

(Only found in northern California)

Hoot is a boy, and Beverly said that the girls are bigger by about a a third. The  females stay in the nest, while the smaller males go out and hunt. Barred owls are nocturnal, and live in northern california. 

Our local area is home to three types of owls: 

great horned owl 

barn owl

screech owl

Owls have a bone in their neck that allows them to turn  2/3 of the way around. They cannot spin their heads all around!

Like reptiles, birds lay eggs. However, some bird create nests for their eggs.

Beverly shared a hawk nest.

The hawk used: twigs, cotton, feathers, bark, paper bags, newspaper, a dryer sheet, and even horse hair!

Notice all the horse hair used in this smaller nest.

Red-tail hawk egg

Here's an ostrich egg. An ostrich is the largest bird in the world. 

What did you learn from Beverly?

Have you ever seen or heard either of these animals near your house?