Gigantic Northern Marine Animals of the Shallow Coastal Waters:

These gigantic animals of the shallow northern waters are related to both seals and sea lions.  The walrus is know for its ivory tools which are canine teeth protruding from its jaws.  Sadly since ivory has become relatively not available with the curtailment of the African elephant ivory tusk sourcing – walruses and walrus ivory is becoming more and more both a valuable and poachable commodity.  Both males and females have tusks.  Although the tusks are used in fighting, and to help the walrus pull its bulk and girth up on ice floes, some scientists believe their main use is to dig the shallow ocean floor in search of food and foodstuff materials.

Range & Two Species:

The walrus has a circumpolar range and scientists now recognize two sub-species, the Pacific and the Atlantic.  The Pacific walrus is larger and its tusks longer, these are the obvious differences between it and its Atlantic cousins.

What Do Walrus Eat?

The main and dominant food sources of the walrus are a variety of invertebrate animals that live on the bottom of shallow Arctic waters.  Clams are the mainstay and several different species are eaten by the walrus.  The feeding walrus eats only the protruding part of the clam, and scientists believe that the fleshy part is removed by suction.   In addition to clams, walruses eat snails, crabs, worms and shrimp which they locate by running their broad, flat, muzzles over the ocean bottom floor.  They will eat fish.  Inuit hunters report that sometimes walrus will even devour and eat seals.

Amazingly Long Annual Migrations of Coastal Walrus:

In the Pacific they make annual migrations moving south for the winter and then north again as soon as warming weather breaks up the ice.  A walrus, in spring migration may travel as far as 2,000 km (3200 km) and this is during this migration, in late April or early May that the Pacific walruses have their new calves. For at least the next year and a half and perhaps for considerably longer this young brood is cared for by their mothers.  Females begin breeding when six or seven years old and thereafter give birth to a single calf every second year.    The breeding season comes during February and March, but as with other pinnipeds, the fetus begins to develop immediately.   After only a few months it begins to grow and a baby walrus is born.

The World Would Be Amiss If Walruses Disappeared From Our Marine Coasts:

Yet it is only a matter of time and nutrition by the mother and later the solid foods that the walrus thrive on that this junior member of its group grows to one large even giant animal indeed. Walruses are both impressive and amazing creatures of the North American coastlines. Both our Pacific and Atlantic coastlines would be amiss if it were not for the appearance and grandeur of these wonderful and awe inspiring creatures.
Jadran Transcona – a highly respected travel guide who knows the Narrows at Lake Manitoba very well – both for green enviromental tours as well as hunting & fishing  Be it for giant Jackfish, Muskellunge or Lake Winnipeg Walleye and pickerel fish Jadran knows how to find them in the wild Winter vacations away from the fourty below Manitoba winter tempsbook a Mission Beach apartment condo from the owner.

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Elephants live in very hot and dry climate so they need to take in more water than what they excrete through their urine and what they evaporate through their skin and airway passage when they breathe. The hotter and dryer the environment the more water they loose because of evaporation. This is true of all mammals.

I remember when we were in Israel, the tour guide has us drink a 64 oz bottle every hour! We were also suggested we eat food that had a high content of water. Humans need water every couple of days to survive.

Back to elephants…. because of their large trunk they are able to suck in a couple of gallons at a time. Although, unlike humans, they are able to go 4 days without drinking water, but then they will take in those 50 gallons of water within one day. These terrestrial animals also have pouches in their throat where they are able to store water.

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The premise of this kit is to have kids use positive reinforcement to train basic, and inexpensive, aquarium fish to do tricks. These tricks include swimming through a hoop, being fed by hand and traveling through a tube, just to name a few tricks. Once your kids have mastered these basic tricks they can develop their own tricks to teach their fish.

To turn the Fish School into a science fair project your kids will need to develop a hypothesis that predicts a behavior or relationship. For example, they may hypothesize that gold fish will not be able to learn as fast as beta fish. They can also hypothesize that more aggressive fish will be less willing to do tricks than more docile fish.

After a hypothesis has been formed your students will need to set up their experiment. If you only have one aquarium then you may need to purchase a tank divider, These acrylic dividers are inexpensive and can be found at most pet stores that carry fish or aquarium supplies. The experiment will need to focus on manipulating the independent variable and measuring the dependent variable. If your students do not know what their variables are have them read posts on variables in this blog. It will help them out a lot. If you have any questions about this product or about science fair projects in general, feel free to email me through this site.

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