Striped Bark Scorpion

Today, I would like to tell you about the striped bark scorpion. This scorpion is found in southern Colorado, eastern and northern New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, southern Missouri, western Louisiana, Kansas, and western Arkansas. The striped bark scorpion or Centruroides vittatus is classified like this. Kingdom: Animalia (animal) Phylum: Arthropoda (arthropod) Class: Arachnida (arachnid) Order: Scorpiones (scorpion) Family: Buthidae (most scorpions) Genus: Centruroides (bark scorpion) Species: Vittatus (striped bark scorpion). they are 7 centameters (3 1/4 inches) long. It looks orange, brown, and has black stripes. It also has a large exoskeleton. Under the black light, the striped bark scorpion looks blue. They live under rocks, and don't burrow, but is likely to be in attics. They eat insects, spiders, other scorpions, and some other arthropods. When the striped bark scorpion is mating, it will do a dance by grabbing each other with their pinchers. If that goes alright, the female will give birth to live young, and let them on her back until they can care for themselves. They live for at least 2-6 years. All scorpions sting, but only 25 species can kill a person. The striped bark scorpion isn't one of the 25 species, but the reason it hurts you is because all scorpions have venom. Want to know more? If so, here are some links and resources.
 scorpions
Bark Scorpions 
Striped Scorpions
Striped Bark Scorpion
Striped Bark Scorpion
More Striped Bark Scorpions Picture from Bing.

Emperor Tamarin

Here is a emperor tamarin. It weighs 10 1/2 to 14 oz. It's lengh is 24 to 26, plus an additional 35 to 42 on the tail. The emperor tamarin lives in the rainforests of Brazil and Peru. Emperor tamarins live for 17 years. The Emperor tamarin eats nectar, sap, fungi, fruit, flowers, ants, snails, insect larvae, insects, frogs, butterflies, bird eggs, small vertebrates, katydids, locusts, beetles, spiders and lizards. Like poison frogs, Emperor tamarins carry babies on their backs. Babies and Dads and Mom are in a group. Mom will give birth, normally to twins. Once Mom does give birth, each and every member in the group will take care of the babies. A family member can hold one or both babies at a time, and can still move through the trees. Father will keep the babies on his back unless one needs to nurse with Mom. Sources Wikipedia BBC science and nature wildfacts Emperor Tamarin Emperor Tamarin Bing Ranger Rick Magazine

Poison Frog

Today I would like to talk about the poison frog. This frog comes in many colors that have one thing in common, they mean, "I'm dangerous! I taste so bad I could kill you!" The poison frog lives in rainforests in Central and South America. It is poisonous due to the ants and beetles it eats. The ants and beetles eat a toxic plant. It weighs 2 grams and is 6 centimeters long, depending on species. Most frogs don't care for their little ones. This frog does. In their mating season, you hear trills and trills and more trills. Those are the calls of boy frogs calling for girls. If the girl wants to be his mate, she will lay millions of eggs on a plant leaf. Our Pop will fertilize the eggs and watch them for 2 weeks. When Pop's eggs hatch, the tadpoles go onto his back. Pop then takes them to a small pool of water nearby. There, they eat algae and live happily for a while. The tadpoles won't grow for a week, but it will take about 3 months for them to turn into froglets. Pop guards them for these three months, and he does his absolute best to keep them from any harm at all. Sources of info. Wikipedia Bing Ranger Rick magazine

Emus

An emu is a large flightless bird that is native to Australia. Emu legs can rip apart metal, which gives emus the reputation for strongest bird. The emu is relatives to the cassowary and the ostrich, two other big flightless birds. The emu sprints at 50 km/h or 31 mph. When running, the emu takes strides of 275 cm. The emu is 2 meters or 6.6 feet tall. Emus have good eyesight and hearing, which is great for carnivores(meat eaters). Emus are NOT meat eaters! They are omnivores with a steady diet of plants, insects, wheat, and fruit. Papa emu will build a nest for Mom emu when it is mating season. Mom then lays the eggs. Normally, Mom emus lay 11 eggs, but sometimes she lays 20. Now Papa does the rest. Papa sits on the nest and hardly moves until the eggs hatch. Papa won't eat for the 2 month wait. He keeps turning the eggs carefully to keep them completely warm. After the eggs hatch, Papa will have to stay with them for six more months. Papa teaches them to find food and keeps them from predators like foxes, dingos, and eagles. I hope you now know plenty about emus!!! Sources of information and pictures. Wikipedia Encyclopedia Ranger Rick magazine

The Emperor Penguin

The emperor penguin is a big penguin, the biggest there is! It is 122 cm. (48 in.) tall and weighs 22.7 to 45.4 kg. (50 to 100 lb.). They live in Antarctica and dive in the water to hunt for fish, crustaceans, and cephalopods. Winter is breeding season, and after mom lays her only egg, she leaves dad to get food to eat, but in this case, she takes a while. while Mom is gone, father keeps the egg warm. Unlike chickens and other Mommy birds, Dad keeps the egg warm with his down (belly) feathers. He stays with the other penguins and their eggs. For 4 months, Papa eats nothing but snow. until the egg hatches, Dad can't let the egg touch the ground, or it will freeze. When the egg finally hatches, Dad keeps the chick under his feathers and feeds it nothing but a milky liquid from his throat. Sooner or later during the day, Mom will come with fish to feed the chick, and Dad gets to hunt himself a fish meal. sources Wikipedia Ranger Rick magazine