June 2021 Factfile - some news from the past month, animals and our first plant of the month!

Hi Everyone!

We’re terribly sorry for missing last month’s fact file (May). We have all had a busy few months. This is actually the May fact file coming out very late. The June fact file is cancelled. Because of this, this factfile contains news from both months.

We are very sorry for the delay in this post. As announced in our last factfile, this post has a new feature to it; plant of the month. We hope you'll enjoy it!

News:

Sierra Leone has sold a rainforest for a Chinese Harbour

Sierra Leone has sold 250 acres of beach and protected rainforest for £39m to build an industrial fishing harbour. It was home to many animals, including several endangered species. This will also have a disastrous impact on local communities, tourism and as I've already mentioned, the environment.

Just click here - It's an article about all the environmental disasters that happened in May. It shocked me.

Red Squirrels were born in Northern Ireland

Red squirrels have been born for the first time in 30 years in Northern Ireland after a project was put in place to boost population numbers and re-integrate them into the area. They were born at Carnfunnock Country Park in County Antrim. A section of the park was cornered off and other measures were put in place to stop dogs etc interfering.

Animals Of The Month:

African Wildcat

African wildcats are members of the cat family. They live in Africa (obviously) and West and Central Asia. They are the closest living relatives of domestic cats. In fact, they look very similar to tabby cats.

African wildcats evolved from other wildcat species about 131 000 years ago. The first individuals were domesticated about 10 000 years ago. They are therefore the ancestors of all domestic cats.

They are listed as least concerned, however, due to breeding with domestic cats, this might change in the near future.

Water - Seahorse

The seahorse is a relatively immobile fish and they live in habitats such as mangrove forests and sea grass that provide food and camouflage shelter. They also wrap their tails around underwater plants. They are beautiful and graceful creatures that are very typical of the sea. A baby seahorse is called a seahorse fry and they eat 3000 pieces of food a day! An adult will eat shrimp and live for 1-4 years.

They don't have many predators as they are too bony but crabs eat them and sometimes the father will eat the baby seahorses! There are over 40 known species of seahorse. And one more fact- the males have babies!

Air - Barn swallow

Barn swallows are birds that you may have in your garden. In Europe, the term ‘swallow’ is mostly used to talk about barn swallows, not swallows in general.

Barn swallows can often be seen darting over fields and meadows in search of prey, flying insects. They fly low, normally no higher than a few inches over the ground.

They have a very distinctive forked tail, more deeply forked than other North American swallows

Plant Of The Month - Lily of the Valley

The lily of the valley is a pretty woodland plant with scented, white, bell-shaped flowers. It is native to Europe and Asia. However, in North America, it is considered invasive. The American lily of the valley is it's relative and is native to North America.

Despite their pretty appearance, the lilies of the valley are poisonous to both animals and humans! This is due to the high concentration of cardiac glycosides (cardenolides).

There are several other names for the lily of the valley, including May bells, Our Lady’s tears and Mary’s tears.

Thank you so much for reading this post and we will be back VERY soon with another post (a promise to not leave it as long, though we say that every time!).

P.S. Here's the next vote: Animals and plant vote

Sources:
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2021/may/17/sierra-leone-sells-rainforest-for-chinese-fishmeal-plant
https://www.aa.com.tr/en/environment/environmental-disasters-across-globe-in-may-2021/2271185
https://www.bbc.com/news/av/uk-northern-ireland-57486252
https://africageographic.com/stories/african-wildcat/
https://www.britannica.com/animal/sea-horse
https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Barn_Swallow/overview
https://www.woodlandtrust.org.uk/trees-woods-and-wildlife/plants/wild-flowers/lily-of-the-valley/

Images:
Title image: This image is owned by a blog editor.
African Wildcat, owned by Wildlife Wanderer (on flickr.com), is licensed under CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.
Seahorse, owned by Alex Griffioen (on flickr.com), is licensed under CC BY 2.0.
A Barn Swallow in flight, owned by Hari K Patibanda (on flickr.com), is licensed under CC BY-NC 2.0.
Lily of the valley, owned by hedera.baltica (on flickr.com), is licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0.

Comments

The life of ... an alcon blue butterfly

Hi everyone, Today we are going to be looking into the life of an alcon blue butterfly (Phengaris alcon). After mating, the females lay their eggs on marsh gentian, a blue-coloured wildflower. The eggs can only be laid on these flowers, as this is what the newly hatched caterpillars will eat. Although in some alp regions, they can also be found on willow gentians, a close relative of the marsh gentian. Once the caterpillars have hatched from the eggs, their main predator and danger are the ants that swarm below. But high on their plant homes, the caterpillars are safe. However, this isn't where the alcon blue caterpillars are going to stay forever. Eventually, they drop down to the ground using silk strings. With no protection, they are soon dragged off by the ants. The most amazing part is, the alcon blue caterpillars give off the same scent and chemicals as the ant larvae. So the ants take the caterpillars back to their brood chamber, wher...

How well do you know the ocean floor? - Quiz

Hi Everyone and welcome back to Green World! Today we have another quiz to test your knowledge about the natural world. This is, of course, part of our monthly series of quizzes, so please give us some feedback on how you are finding it so far in the comments! This time, it's all about the ocean floor. Questions How much percent of the earth's surface consists of ocean floor? a)50% b) 60% c) 70% True or False? Just like on dry land, the ocean floor has mountains, plains and valleys. Which ocean can the Mariana Trench be found? a) Pacific Ocean b) Altantic Ocean c) Indian Ocean True or False? The Mariana Trench is 11km deep. How much of the earth's surface is covered by abyssal plains? a) about 33% b) about 50% c) about 10% True or False? Studies estimated that 90% of deep sea species haven't been discovered yet? Tr...

Ozone layer

Hi everyone, What even is ozone? And the ozone layer? Where does the hole in the ozone layer come from and what does it mean? Is it dangerous? What can be done? Often the ozone-talk can be complicated and confusing, keeping an overview is hard and understanding all the problems always difficult. Let us break it down a bit for you: What is the ozone layer? We'll start with the basics: The ozone layer is part of the stratosphere, which is the second layer of the Earth's atmosphere, between 10 and 50 km above the Earth's surface and made up of protective gases. One of these protective gases is ozone. There is not much ozone in the atmosphere, only 0.3 molecule of ozone per 1 million molecules of air. This is because ozone is chemically unstable and only forms when ultra violet radiation (UV light) hits oxygen and breaks the bonds between the atoms. It fact it is so unstable that even when it has formed, it breaks down again relatively quickly. This leads to ozone turning back ...

The life of ... a koala

Hello everyone, Today we're talking about koalas. Also known as koala bears, koalas are marsupials. So they're actually not bears. Koalas, phascolarctos cinereus , are tree dwelling and probably best known for spending most of the day sleeping. They live for up to 15 years in the wild although captive koalas generally live for longer. Koalas have a stout, gray body and a cream-coloured chest. They have a broad face, small yellow eyes and big fluffy ears. In adaptation to climbing, their feet are strong and clawed. Adult individuals in South Australia weigh 14kg and are 60-84cm big. Their Eastern cousins are considerably smaller. Koalas are found in Eastern and Southern Australia, where they live in eucalyptus trees. They feed on the leaves of these eucalyptus trees, eating up to 1.3kg a day. With a body weight of up to 14kg, this means they eat just under 10% of their body weight every single day. However, the le...

How much do you know about migrating birds? - Quiz

Hello everyone, We've got another quiz for you and this time it's about migrating birds. As most of you probably know, there are loads of birds that fly to a different country or even continent to avoid harsh weather and to find better feeding and breading areas. Questions True or False? Birds use the Earth's magnetic field to navigate while migrating? How many miles does an arctic term migrate? a) between 10 000 and 20 000 km b) between 20 000 and 30 000 km c) more than 40 000 km True or False? Arctic terns can fly 600km in a day. What percentage of birds migrate? a) about 40% b) about 60% c) about 80% True or False? Great snipes travel 5 000 miles at 70mph. How long can the bar-tailed godwit fly non stop for? a) nearly 5000 miles b) nearly 7000 miles c) nearly 9000 miles True or False? Bar-headed geese can fly up to 5.5 miles above sea level. ...

Eco system Galápagos: Part 1 Geography

Hello and welcome to the first post about the Galapagos Islands. Currents and Winds The volcanic islands of Galápagos started to form 4 million years ago. Where they lie, is unique. They are situated directly on the equator, on the Nazca tectonic plate. The Galapagos Islands are on the crossroads of three currents. The cold South Equatorial Current flows westward towards Galapagos. The warm Panama Current runs in from the north. And finally, the deep sea Cromwell Current runs from the west. The Galapagos Islands are also where the Northeast Trade Wind meets the Southeast Trade Wind. Galapagos Hotspot 21 Volcanoes make up the Galápagos Islands with 13 still active. The reason for this volcanic activity is a giant hotspot under the island. A hotspot is a gigantic column of super heated molten lava, rising up towards the surface. It is immense; at least sixty miles (97 kilometers) across and 1800 miles (2897 kilometers) deep. It connects the islands to ...

Maria Sibylla Merian

Hello, Today we wanted to tell you all about Maria Sibylla Merian. Maria was born in Germany on 2nd April, 1647. Like many young girls at that time, she loved to paint. Every day she would gather flowers from her garden and paint them. Sometimes, the flowers would have caterpillars on them and she would paint them changing, day by day, into butterflies. At that time, not much was known about insects, and people thought that butterflies magically sprouted from the mud. Maria knew from what she had seen while she was painting, that this was not true, but no-one believed her. As time went by, Maria became a great watercolour artist. She wrote about her discoveries, but scientists only took books written in Latin seriously, and Maria wrote hers in German. When Maria and her daughter were living in Amsterdam, Maria found display cases in museums filled with exotic insects collected from South America. Maria thought that if she could study the bu...

Coral reefs

Hello! We would love to introduce you to the topic of coral reefs and especially coral reef bleaching, as it is a greatly ignored but certainly significant topic. Have fun! 5 coral reef facts 1. The Great Barrier Reef is the largest living structure on the planet and is 2300 km long! 2. Less than 0.1% of the world's ocean surface is covered in coral reefs. 3. At least 25% of all marine animals live there. 4. Coral reefs are often known as the rainforests of the ocean. 5. In 1 square kilometre of coral reef, up to 35 tons of fish can be 'produced'. The 5 biggest coral reefs in the world 1. Great Barrier Reef (near Australia) 2. Red Sea Coral Reef (near Egypt, Israel and Djibouti) 3. New Caledonia Reef (Pacific Ocean near New Caledonia) 4. The Mesoamerican Barrier Reef (near Mexico, Belize, Guatemala and Honduras) 5. Florida Reef (Atlantic Ocean/Gulf of Mexico near Florida) What is coral? Coral is actually made up of small anim...

Amazon Rainforest series - part 3: human involvement

Hi everyone, This is the last post in the amazon rainforest mini series. It's all about how humans have affected the amazon rainforest. Unfortunately, most human impact on the amazon is negative. The Amazon rainforest faces many threats, but the main one is fire. You may think that the fires in the amazon are wildfires or created by accident, but that is not true. All over the amazon, farmers are setting fire to the trees and foliage. For only one reason, to clear land for farming. But this is a disaster. Last month, the amazon rainforest reached its tipping point . Due to the fires, it is now releasing more CO2 than it is absorbing. To feed our growing population, we are killing countless species. Species, that in some cases, we haven't even discovered yet. If the amazon rainforest goes, climate change will become pretty much unstoppable. But it isn't only animals and plants that are suffering. Do you remember all those tribe...

Sir David Attenborough - an incredible naturalist

Hi everyone and welcome back to Green World, Today we want to talk about one of the most inspiring naturalists of our time. It is, of course, David Attenborough. Today (08.05.2021) is his 95th birthday so we seemed it fitting to publish a post about him today. Over his lifetime, David has won more than 40 awards for his work and was named among the 100 greatest Britons in 2020. David first joined the BBC in 1952 as a producer for the Talks department which looked after all non-fiction broadcasts. Since then, he has worked on lots of different programs and documentaries such as The Life Series, which was first made in 1979. More recently, he has presented Blue Planet and Blue Planet II. The latter had the most views recorded for a single program in 2017. David also gave the Royal Institution's Christmas Lecture in 1973 on The Language of the Animals. David Attenborough is still presenting documentaries to this day. He now lives in Richmo...

Green World

Search This Blog