Which animal’s name is a word that has more syllables than almost any other word? Which animal’s skin is 15 centimeters thick? Which animals have existed for twenty million years? Answer: the Hippopotamus. Aka the Hippo. Read on to find out more about them!

First, let’s watch a video. Click on this LINK to find a funny song about Christmas and Hippos.

Now, let’s get back on topic. First, we’ll talk about a hippo’s statistics.

STATISTICS:

SIZE: 3.5 – 5 meters WEIGHT: 3 tons LIFESPAN: 45 years

WATER: water is essential to hippos. Being the third largest land animal on earth, they can’t really swim, even though they do go underwater. When they do, they are either cooling off or running along the riverbed, looking for food. Their bodies are shaped like a barrel shaped just to help them float. A hippo’s eyes are covered by a clear membrane, so that they can see when underwater. They can also close their nostrils and ears to avoid getting water inside them. Hippos’ eyes, nostrils and ears are all placed on top of their heads, like crocodiles. This way, they can see above water when most of their body is in the cool water. However, in the scorching dry season of Africa, there is often mostly no water. So, the solution? Mud. Hippos gather in groups of up to 100 in one mud pool in the dry season. Now that’s a lot.

BODY FEATURES AND WEAPONS: Hippos have a body that can grow up to 5 meters long. Their skin is thick, weighing half a ton altogether. They have short, stubby legs, but a very large mouth. They are 70 centimeters wide, with sharp canine teeth half a meter long. These are its most lethal weapons. They kill the most African people of any land animal (that lives in Africa). And that includes the king cobra, the lion, and the leopard! Speaking about lions, hippos can also roar 115 decibels loud – as loud a lion. So, when a hippo yawns, it’s warning you, either ‘get out of my territory’ or ‘don’t come near my kid’!

A hippo’s sweat is red. Even though some people call it blood, it’s really not. It is just that hippos hate the sun, and even their sweat serves as a sunblock. It’s true!

FRIENDS AND RELATIVES: Hippos have weird relatives and friends. Oxpeckers often stand on top of hippos, cleaning their skin. Sometimes, more than 20 oxpeckers standing on top of a hippo. Just like a giant taxi cab! A hippo’s closest relatives are whales. Can you see the connection? Well, I can’t!

Fun fact: all that running along the riverbed must have gotten into the hippos. They can run on land up to 30 kilometers an hour, so don’t bother them. Unless you’re a professional athlete, you probably won’t outrun them!

Thanks for reading! Written by EZ

Water buffalo are large cows. They are very weird yet amazing creatures because of their unique behavior. They are also gentle, but can be violent. These giants are also used to produce things that us humans need or want. If you would want to know more, read on!

GENERAL STATISTICS:

LENGTH: 2.6 – 3 meters WEIGHT: 300 – 1200 kg TAIL: 1 meter LIFESPAN: 9 – 12 yrs

MUD: water buffalo have many weird habits and body features. They LOVE mud, and like to get a soak of mud where ever they go. A water buffalo’s body have close to no sweat glands, so they stay in mud to keep cool. The mud is also like a sun/insect repellent – it helps water buffalo endure the great heat and all those buzzing mosquitoes. Due to having close to no sweat glands, water buffalo can only graze during dawn and dusk. In the scorching daytime, these cows rest in… mud. Water buffalo have adapted to ‘living with mud’. They have wide hooves to aid walking in water, and ears positioned near the top of the head to avoid being drenched in mud.

HERDS: Water buffalos don’t stay in gigantic herds like other cattle do. They split up into smaller groups. Normally, there are two groups in one herd. They don’t merge, but they do stay close together. In the female group, there is a matriarch in charge. She commands all the 20 females and calves that follow her around. The male squad, stays close by. There is up to 10 ‘bachelors’ in one squad, and there is no leader. The males just play fight, eat, sleep, and soak in mud all day. When the mating season comes, the males and females come together to mate.

DOMESTICATION: There are water buffalo in the wild, but there is also a lot of them in captivity. In fact, up to 150,000,000. Their dung is perfect fertilizer, and their milk is way more creamy than that of normal cattle – perfect for mozzarella. Yum yum in my tum tum!

Thanks for reading! written by EZ

Predators in the animal kingdom rely on their weapons – tooth and claw. But, in order to make those weapons effective, they need force. So, the danger of being bitten by different animals depends on their jaw strength. Today, I’m going to list the bite forces of some of the most ferocious predators in the world.

Placing on the top is the crocodile. These monsters have been around since the age of the dinosaurs, and they have evolved a superstrong bite. They average 423 kilograms of pressure per square centimeter (3,700 pounds psi). That’s equal to having 5 adults piled on top of one square centimeter of you. Geez that’s heavy! But, did you know that crocodiles have very strong jaw closing muscles, but have amazingly weak jaw opening muscles? You could keep a croc from biting by tying rubber around it’s mouth!

Second is the Jaguar. They actually don’t have the strongest bite force of all big cats, but they do come up top when compared to their body size. They have a bite force of 1,500 pounds per square inch. Tigers have the strongest bite force when not talking relative to body size – 2,000 psi. But, they are quite a bit larger than Jaguars, so yeah.

Next, let’s talk about the large bears. They, including the largest land predator alive, average 127 kg/sq. cm. That’s about three times less than an adult croc’s, but it’s still very heavy, considering they are mainly herbivorous (apart from the polar bear). They probably save the bite for large prey like elk, seals, or walruses.

The golden eagle is an unexpected winner (compared to their small size). They average 53 kilograms of force per square cm. (400 lbs psi.) But, think about how small their heads are. Imagine how much of it would have to be muscle in order to power such a strong beak!

Finally, here’s the cousin of the human – the gorilla. They are already known for their amazing arm strength, being able to lift more than the strongest humans. But did you know that they can bite down at 1,000 pounds per square inch. They also have giant, sharp canine teeth, so beware!

Honorable mention – one of the weakest bite forces in the animal kingdom compared to body size. They are the… Humans! I know, sad. Our mouths are even weaker than the small golden eagle, averaging 12 kilograms/square cm. That’s less than one seventh of our body size.

Thanks for reading! -Written by EZ

Many years ago in London, people were horrible to animals. They used them for entertainment, and didn’t care about the creatures’ lives. Londoners made them kill each other, and the bet on them. These are all banned now due to conservation laws, but you might still want to know what the old-times people to pass time.

Cruel sport 1: Bear/bull-baiting. The people extracted the bear’s weapons -tooth and claw- and chained them to a wooden pole stuck in the ground. Then, dogs were sent to rip the bear into pieces, and sometimes ate the dead bear. Bull-baiting was also common. They blinded or injured the bull, then the people infuriated them by doing things like pouring pepper into their noses. Finally, dogs were also sent to kill the beast.

Cruel sport 2: Dog fighting. Londoners loved this sport. Of course, first, you need to find a dog. This dog must be strong, healthy, and ferocious. Often, the Londoners cut off their dogs’ ears, just to make sure the opposing dog doesn’t hang onto them. Then, they bring in tame dogs to practice with. They shave all the tame dogs’ throat hair, to make sure the fighting dog sees a vulnerable spot. The fighting dog then kills the tame ones, and eats them as a treat.

Cruel sport 3: Cock fighting. This is when two roosters are carefully trained by their owner to kill other chickens. They are then brought to the chicken fighting arena. Sometimes, the owners strapped metal spikes to their rooster’s feet to make it more lethal of a weapon. The animals then fight to the death – they are either pecked or clawed to death.

Cruel sport 4: Pony-baiting. This was the rarest sport of all of the above, but one of the most cruel. Once, an ape was put on the pony’s back when it was fighting, making it even more difficult for the horse. It then was killed by fighting dogs. If the pony ever killed or defeated the dogs, the people of London would be mad. They would demand more dogs to be sent to kill the pony.

And finally, I’ll tell you about one of the rarest encounters. Very few times, a horse is trained to kill other things, and not for self defense. So, a pony kicked and bit a sheep until it died. The horse then beheaded the wooly creature and nearly half of it. Ugh…

Might want skip London for your trip? Don’t worry these are banned now. But it sometimes does go on in secret.

Volcanoes come in many different shapes and sizes. But you might want to learn about these if you are living near one. The difference could be very large!

First of all, lets get some things straight. If a volcano is NVV, that means that is is Not Very Violent. However, if it is IV, then it’s Incredibly Violent. Well, that’s how scientists call them.

Now, just let me tell you about a volcano’s internal body structure. First, magma bubbles underneath the mountain, slowly building a tunnel upwards. Then, magma flows into a chamber, filling it up. These are called magma chambers. (obviously). The magma chamber is a place to store the magma. Then, it crawls up, creating a funnel all the way at the top of the mountain. That’s the crater. But, on its way up, the magma does create a few side tunnels as well. These are called ‘vents’. When the volcano erupts, gooey magma will be flowing right out of these holes.

Here are the different types of volcano:

A: Shield volcanoes. These are shaped like shields – gentle sloped, and large in area. These volcanoes are NVV, so they are pretty safe. Lava (magma with air) slowly slides down a shield volcano’s gentle sides, so it takes quite a long time to reach anything nearby. However, they also have lots of side vents. So lava can very much come out of the side of the mountain in many directions at once!

B: Composite volcanoes. These are the tall ones: Mt. Etna (3,350 meters), Mt. St. Helens (2,550 meters), Mt. Cotopaxi (5,897 meters), etc. These, even when active, might have glaciers on top because of their amazing height. They are IV, though actually quite amazing when they are extinct. Mt. Fuji is one of the most well known. Composite volcanoes are formed by many, many previous eruptions. The ash and hardened lava forms layers and layers of rock, covering the original mountain. They become taller and taller until they become extinct.

C: Cinder cones. These are small, miniature volcanoes (10-100 meters tall) that often grow on the side of shield volcanoes. Cinder cones can form in clusters of more than 100. Despite their small size, Cinder cones are still IV, especially because there can be so many of them. These don’t have many side vents, being so small.

Thanks for reading! Random fact: Hippos’ skin can be 15 centimeters thick, and 500 kilograms heavy. (in total) -Written by EZ

Wet, humid areas are normally near the equator. These can form rain forests. Up to twenty percent of the world’s air is already produced by the Amazon rain forest. So imagine how vital the rest are to the world’s air production! However, there are many different types of rain forest. Today, I’ll show you some of them.

First up: lowland rain forests. These are probably the most common type of rain forest. They all have four layers: the emergent trees, up to 90 meters tall, the canopy, more than 50 meters tall, the under story, up to 5 meters tall, and finally the forest floor. The amazing Amazon rain forest is also one of these. They bloom with animal species, trees, flowers, and mushrooms. In fact, in a soccer pitch sized rain forest, there may be 200 species of tree.

Second: Flooded rain forests. These are basically lowland rain forests except flooded by water. The water can more than 15 meters tall, only allowing the canopy and emergents to stay above water. However, this does allow fish to experience living among the trees.

Third: Mangrove rain forests. Alright, these aren’t really rain forests, but they are still tropical. These forests are crowded with mangroves, so therefore in the connection point between salt and fresh water, called an estuary. Barnacles can live on the trees closer to the sea, and lots of fish use the mangroves’ intertwining roots to make their egg chamber. Mudskippers may also live here, being the only fish that can live above water, they often climb up the mangroves’ roots to catch insects.

Last but not least: Mountain rain forests. These forests happened to grow on top of mountains, making them very humid. Fog often gathers in large clumps, blocking out a good view. These do often shelter gorillas, though, because they provide the large primates with shelter, fruits, grasses, and privacy from other creatures.

Some moths look like wasps. But they are nowhere near as dangerous. So, you need to tell the difference between a harmless moth and a stinging wasp. (especially if you will get fined 50,000 euros for killing a wasp in Germany.)

First, you look at the antennae. If they are very long and fuzzy/feathery, then it’s a moth. If they are skinny and smooth, it’s probably a wasp. Another feature is the stinger. Some moths don’t have them, so it’s easy to tell the two apart. But, some moths even have a pretend stinger! In this case, a moth’s ‘stinger’ is large and thick, but a wasp’s is small and sharp.

The major difference is the connection between the abdomen and the thorax. If you meet a moth, you’ll find out that the connection is very strong and thick, While a real wasp’s is narrow. Just like the wings. The connection between the wings of the wasp and its thorax are very skinny, while a moth’s is thick.

Finally, you can tell by the head size. The head of most wasps are much smaller compared to its body, while a wasp’s is relatively large. Maybe the wasp’s brain is bigger!

So, if you want to tell the difference, check those facts!

(PS – fun fact: a cockroach can move 75 centimeters per second (equal to a grown man moving 33.75 meters per second) and breathe underwater! So they may be hard to drown in a toilet!)

Flying fish are amazing creatures. After all, they are fish that can fly! However, they are also the favorite snack of many many animals. So, sometimes, two animals team up to hunt them.

First, a large group of flying fish appear near the surface of the water. Suddenly, some Dorado fish appear beneath them. They are very large, fast and aggressive, swimming at up to 92 kilometers per hour. The flying fish can try to escape to the deep before the Dorado get near, but most will take the other option – to the air. Most flying fish have four wings to help them glide; two at the front, two at the back. But one species, called the blue flying fish, has only two wings. When swimming, two wings gives the fish an edge, because they are less folded, but four wings may help the fish glide better. The flying fish build up speed with their tails underwater, then extend their wings and fly up.

Then, a dozen frigate birds appear from above. They have been waiting for the Dorado to force the flying fish out of the water so that they will be easier targets. These birds can’t afford to get their feathers wet because they will suck in water and disable the bird from flying. They swoop down and grab flying fish out of the air. Doing this, they also help the Dorado. When the flying fish dive down to avoid being snatched, they fall into the waiting mouths of the larger fish.

When doing this, both the Dorado and the frigate birds get a large meal. Just bad luck for the flying fish!

Air. Air is essential. Air is all around us. But many people do not know much about what air is formed of, what it can do, and many basic things. Today, I’ll tell you about air.

WHAT’S IN AIR?: Air is formed of many different types of gases. Air is mostly made up of Nitrogen. Nitrogen can be dangerous to breathe if not mixed up with different types of gas, like oxygen. Nitrogen makes up almost 78% of the air we breath. Oxygen is also vital. It is the most important part of the air to humans, taking up about 20% of the air. Argon, another gas takes up 0.9% of the air, and the rest make up the last 0.1%.

FORMS OF AIR: Air has many forms. Air masses are one type – huge clumps of air. Their temperature varies depending on where it came from, such as a cold sea or a scorching desert. These masses can be really big. The largest one ever was as large as the whole of Egypt!

Air masses can create storms. First, a warm air mass meets a cold one. The cooler air mass then slides underneath the warm clump. The warm air rises up, making a storm.

THE ATMOSPHERE AND AIR PRESSURE: The atmosphere is made up of many layers of gas. First, there’s the ground where people live. This can be O-8,848 meters high, called the Troposphere. Next, is where the clouds are – the Stratosphere. The clouds can be up to 17,000 meters above ground level. A little above the Stratosphere is the Ozone layer. This is vital to block out most of the sun’s ultraviolet rays – harmful beams of light. The Ozone layer is up to 50 kilometers above the ground. Above that is the Mesosphere (80 kilometers above the ground). Then, it’s the earth’s meteorite shield – the Thermosphere. This is almost 190 kilometers above ground. And finally, there’s the last level – the Exosphere (900,000 meters above ground). To go into outer space, a rocket ship must travel through all of these protective layers.

The Atmosphere is 5,100,000,000 tons of air that protects the earth. So, the amount of air pressure on ever square meter on earth is about as heavy as two elephants. Imagine carrying 12.7 tons of air everyday to school!

Fun fact: Frogs can make excellent ‘weather forecasters’. The more a frog croaks, the less air pressure there is. This means there’s going to be stormy weather! The higher the air pressure, the better the weather. So the less a frog croaks, the less rain there’s gonna be! Interesting, right?

I researched about lakes quite a few months ago. I was particularly interested by the great lakes that lie in between Canada and the US. So I found out some more.

SIZE: Of course, Lake Superior is the largest great lake. It is the second largest lake in the world, and the largest freshwater lake, at 82,100 square kilometers in area. Coming up second is Lake Huron. Huron is the fourth largest lake in the world, with an area of 59,580 square kilometers. Closely behind is Lake Michigan, the 5th largest lake in the world, at 57,700 square kilometers. The last two are not large, only 25,800 (Erie) and 19,000 (Ontario). The combined size is 244,000 square kilometers. That’s more than 2/3 of France!

DEPTH: Again, Lake superior is the deepest lake, at 406 meters. Next, is Michigan (281 meters) then Huron (228 meters). But, Lake Ontario is deeper than its larger cousin, Lake Erie. Lake O boasts about a maximum depth of 224 meters, while Lake E is only 64 meters deep.

ORDER OF FLOW: Water flows, surprisingly, in size order. First, the water is transported into Lake Superior from multiple rivers, such as Saint Louis river, Nipigon river, Ontonagon river, and the Kaministiquia river. After staying in the Superior, the water travels through St. Mary river to Lake Michigan. It then flows from Michigan to Huron through the Straits of Mackinac. After that, the water travels by St. Clair river to a small lake, called St. Clair lake. The Detroit river then carries the water to Lake Erie, then finally to lake Ontario. The distance between Lake Erie and Lake Ontario is the longest, including the Niagra falls. Well, one things for sure: There are a whole lot of Saint Rivers! 🙂

Now, I’m going to tell you some fun facts.

#1: The only lake entirely in the USA is… Lake Michigan! You can tell by the name.

#2: The great lakes formed when the glaciers melted from the last ice age.

#3: All the great lakes used to be part of Algonquin, a giant lake. It must have been 244,000 square kilometers in size. Sadly, that is still smaller than the Caspian sea today. (378,400 square kilometers)

Thank you for reading!!!! -Written by EZ