Today, Beverly from Wildlife Experience was back in our class to share more.
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.
The subject of today's lesson was super senses.
Humans have five senses: hearing smelling, feeling, seeing, and tasting. Animals do too.
Some have super senses!
A bush baby's super sense is sight. If an animal has huge eyes, it tells you that it can see well at night.
Here is a picture of a naked mole rat. It has no hair, and like a mole, it spends all of its time underground. This rat doesn't use sight, since it is underground, and it has skin where there should be eyes. It has a strong sense of smell, touch, and can hear really well.
Below is a picture of a fly taken under a microscope and with added color. Notice the mouth part and the big red sockets. Each tiny dot sees an image, so a fly sees several images at the same time.
A fly can see all around.
Meet a Tarantula!
Here is a female, rose-haired tarantula named Ocho. These spiders are found in Mexico, so Wildlife Experience gave her a Spanish name! Ocho means eight!
Arachnids have two body parts, eight legs and live on land. They have an incredible sense of sight. In fact, it has eight eyes! It also has two spinnerettes on the abdomen. Tarantulas have a tiny gland on the abdomen and when touched, and mixed with oxygen, it makes silk. Like raptors, female tarantulas are larger than the males. Arachnids give birth to 250 eggs! That's a lot of siblings!
Arachnids have two body parts, eight legs and live on land. They have an incredible sense of sight. In fact, it has eight eyes! It also has two spinnerettes on the abdomen. Tarantulas have a tiny gland on the abdomen and when touched, and mixed with oxygen, it makes silk. Like raptors, female tarantulas are larger than the males. Arachnids give birth to 250 eggs! That's a lot of siblings!
Below is a shed from Ocho.
This is a shed from a red-kneed tarantula.
Meet a Turkey Vulture!
This is Ripper, a turkey vulture. Vultures have a great sense of smell. In fact, they can smell something dead that is two miles away! Most birds do NOT have a good sense of smell. Kiwi birds and the turkey vultures have excellent ability to smell.
Unlike the owl, a turkey vulture's talons are not that strong. They use their beak to rip and tear at their prey. Vultures eat dead things.When they find something dead, the devour it. Beverly said that vultures fill a part of their throat called a crop, and if a car comes by, it vomits the meal so it's light and can fly away. When the car passes, the vulture comes back to eat the vomit. Yuck!
What did you think of our two newest local animals?
How are tarantula, turkey vulture, gopher snake, and barred owl alike?
How are they different?
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