Picture a bird. Got it? Now, what’s its beak used for? Eating? Yes, but not exactly. Bird beaks have different shapes for different reasons. Not every bird needs the same type of beak to survive. But which bird needs what? Read on to find out. (Reminder; this blog doesn’t have every single species of bird, okay?)

Bird one: a woodpecker. A woodpecker’s beak is one of the most commonly thought of beak shape. It is quite long, but not so thin; chisel shaped, chipping away at tree bark throughout their lifetime. A woodpecker’s beak can also be used for prying insect grubs and worms out of thick trees.

Bird two: The hummingbird. Now, this beak is a bit weird. It is slender and thin, occasionally with a slight curve upwards. This is perfect for these tiny birds to reach into flower’s centers and suck out the nectar. While doing this, the hummingbird’s wings allow it to hover by flapping its wings up to 70 times per second, flying up to 79km/h. As a result, a hummingbird heart may beat 1,260 times per minute.

Bird three: The toucan. This bird’s beak is called a bill. It is long and thick. The bills even have serrated edges, like ‘teeth’ for cutting and swallowing fruit, the toucan’s main diet. The toucan may seem a bit ‘heavy-headed’ because of its bill, but the giant mouth is actually hollow for it to be lighter.

Bird four: The owl. Owls have a small, hooked and razor sharp beak. Their beaks, unlike some people think, are not used to carry prey. An owl’s neck muscles aren’t strong enough to carry prey sometimes a bit heavier than themselves. That job goes to the legs and talons. The beaks are actually used for tearing prey apart. (and vomiting undigested bits out as pellets).

Bird five: The parrot. They have a large, rounded upper beak with a hook at the tip. Their bottom jaw is not slim either. These thick, stubby beaks need to be strong – they crack the hard nuts that parrots love.

There are many useful things in life to do. There are many things that can help people, or just make a lot of money. I think that there are multiple jobs that not only help people, gains info, but also earn a lot of money. A few of  these jobs is a teacher, scientist, inventor, etc. Today, I will explain to you why these jobs are important, and the best roles in life.

Our human community relies on generation after generation, and the thing that powers the involving process of the human community is knowledge. Without knowledge, then the world wouldn’t be the way it is right now. And how do you get knowledge? Learning. From ages 4 to a max of 35, a person can learn. They learn from a mentor, or teacher. I think that educating kids is a very important part to our survival.

I’m currently 12. I’ve went to school for 8 years, and I know for a fact that without my teachers, I would never have learned as much as I had. Had I not gone to school, I wouldn’t know nearly as much as I do now. Although sometimes me and my teachers have disagreements, they still teach me a lot. I believe that as I get older, teachers will get more and more vital to my education. I say this because during primary school, you don’t necessarily need to go to a school, as you can learn from your parents, or just a tutor. However, in middle school and high school, you need a school because as you get older, the things your learning get harder and harder, and your parents and tutors will no longer have the time to teach you everything you need to know. That’s another reason why being a teacher is a very vital role.

And, it can earn you a fair amount of money. Even if you have a great role, and you help many people, you can’t survive without money. Therefore, for every job I talk about today, I will also talk about how much money you make. As a teacher, the higher grade you teach, the more likely you are to be paid higher. If you are a professor for a university or college, you can definitely make more money than the average person. A regular teacher would make about the same as an average teacher.

The second job I’m going to talk about today is a scientist. Now, a scientist covers many things, such a biology, astronomer and physicist. I think this is a vital role because it gives us new information regularly. It helps us digest some of the natural wonders of the world, such as animals, the universe, cells, and so many more.

The first type of scientist I’m going to talk about is a biologist. A biologist studies the creatures in the world. It helps us because they teach us about how the other living things in the world survive and function, and in some dangerous animal case, how to survive an attack. A biologist also constantly breaks down newly found animals.

Since ancient times, people have wondered about space. Back then, there were people who star gazed, and came up with claims about how the universe works. Of course, most of the theories were wrong, but the name stuck. Astronomers. Astronomers are the people who explain the wonders outside of Earth, and explains how the universe works. They go to many extents to find out about the universe. For example, NASA, one of the most hardcore space research institutes, is crawling with astronomers. They often send astronauts to space just to get pictures and information. One of the most recent discoveries is the picture of the black hole, which many astronomers worked on. This satisfies many people around the world’s curiosity.

The last one I’m going to talk about is physicist. The physicist is a form of scientist that studies things like molecules and cells. A physicist’s work involves looking into microscopic things. Physics are split into two groups, quantum physics and normal physics. There are physicists on both sides. One of the most famous physicist stories is of schrodinger’s cat.

Being a scientist can earn you a fair amount of money, and occasionally, a really good scientist can earn a crazy amount of money. Some of the most famous people in history are scientists. While some of them, like Albert Einstein, weren’t exactly rich, they still are some of the most famous people in history.

The last group of people I’m going to talk about is inventors. Inventors, as the name suggests, invents things. Many inventors are also scientists, but there is one major difference, they use what they learn and discover to make things. However, the same cannot be said for those inventors who aren’t scientists.

In our continuing development, we also need new inventions to help our survival. One of the most famous inventions are lightbulbs. That invention was made by one of the most famous inventions of all time: Thomas Edison. He was a genius, and is now known as one of the most famous inventors ever. Another is the former richest man in the world: Bill Gates. His company, microsoft, helped many other companies such as apple and samsung, come to be. There is also a pair of siblings known as the Wright brothers, that started a major evolution in transportation with their airplane.

Although inventors throughout history haven’t necessarily been rich, they still have helped majorly. Without all the inventions in the world right now, we wouldn’t have all the cities or pleasure items. I think that it’s worth it to not make as much money if you can help the civilisation so much.

Those are 3 of the best roles ,(in my opinion), in life.

Written by
-Dz

Lately, yes, I’ve been blogging about islands and continental plates a lot. But, this time, I’m going to write about my favorite subject again – biology.

Island life. Many island animals and plants are unique only to that island. This may be because after they reached that island, the animals evolved and adapted better to their new environment. But, first, we need to know how these animals got there.

Option 1: Flying. Alright, yes, some birds fly to islands, but this option is not that type of flying. It’s more like catching the wind. Some plant seeds or bugs get blown by the wind all the way to another island. If the environment is suitable there, they will stay and grow. But, if the island surroundings are to harsh, they will get carried again to a knew home.

Option 2: Floating. This type of travel is mostly taken by plants. A good example is the coconut. Coconut trees grow near/on beaches, so the fruit often fall in the ocean. When they do, the hollow coconuts float on the ocean and get washed up onto an island. Then, a tree grows there, and the cycle starts again. That’s why pretty much why every far away sandy island has coconut trees.

Option 3: By plane. When birds peck up seeds and plants, some unexpected guests stay stuck in their feathers. These are some seed specks. In fact, they are not actually stuck – they grappled onto the bird’s feathers with little hooks and thorns. When the bird flies to another island and ruffles its feathers, the seeds will come out. They will then bloom.

Option 4: By boat. Logs that float across the ocean are some of the most filled cruise ships on the planet. Most of the time, these logs are rotten. Insects, worms, and arachnids are all in these hollow boats. When their boat reaches a destination, they get off and live there. But, small bugs aren’t the only animals who get to islands by boat. Galapagos giant tortoises and iguanas also took boats to the Galapagos islands.

Option 5: By bridge. Remember my blog two days ago? All continental islands used to be connected to mainland by a shallow slab of land. During those times, animals could walk to islands and walk back on those land bridges. But, when the water level rose, the animals still on the island were stranded.

Continental drift is what moved so many land blocks apart. The crust plates just couldn’t stop moving. So why and how does continental drift happen? Read on to find out.

There are two types of continental drift – one where two plates move apart, another where they move closer together. First, I’m going to show you how they move apart.

Year 2019: Let’s say two plates with chunks of land are separated by a small, five meter pond. Then, suddenly, the magma underneath the two plates starts churning and pushing. Because of this movement going on underneath, the two plates start pushing/drifting in opposite directions. Fast forward to =====>Year 20002019 (20 million years later): these two plates have finally moved a few hundred kilometers apart. Now, they have moved far away from the lava spot that was churning, and they now stop moving apart. But, some continents that have moved apart are still moving apart, like south America and Africa. They are moving at about 3 centimeters a year; basically the same rate as your fingernails grow.

Now, here’s how they move closer together:

Year 20002019: the two imaginary plates are now a few kilometers apart. But, they are still touching at their very tip. Now, the magma underneath goes to work again, pushing plate one over plate two. They keep moving like this, the plate underneath starts melting as it is getting pushed into the hot mantle of the earth. Fast forward to =====> Year 70002019 (50 million years later): The two plates have met again. When some plates crash together, mountain ranges will start growing very quickly on the border. For example, the Himalayas were formed when India crashed into Asia. Other times, the two plates will continue squeezing. Eventually, after a few million years, a mountain range will start up.

Thx for reading! -Written by EZ

Humans were not the only smart (sort of), bipedal animals on this planet. Millions or thousands of years ago, other species in the genus of homo also walked the earth. Read on to meet some of your distant, long lost relatives!

Cousin one: The most long lost and distant relative is probably the species Homo Habilis. Bones were first discovered near Mary Leakey, Africa. There were also other human cousins found near the site. Homo Habilis did not walk on all fours – but they were probably very hairy. They were starting to use stone age tools, found near the bones. Habilis ruled the earth 2 million years ago. They died out soon after.

Cousin two: Heidelbergensis 1. The reason I call it Homo Heidelbergensis 1 is because there is another subspecies of Heidelbergensis. Scientists call him that because although bones were found in Africa and Asia, bones that looked very similar were found in Heidelberg. These taller and smarter (larger brain than homo habilis) homo species started the use of fire. Homo Heidelbergensis exsisted 2-1.5 million years ago.

Cousin three: Heidelbergensis 2. He was found in Sussex, UK. They were also called Heidelbergensis because a jaw bone was found there. These people lived in Britain 450,000 years ago and started butchery – rhino bones were found next to him, probably killed for its meat.

Cousin four: Homo Neanderthalensis. This species are Homo Sapiens’ closest homo relatives. They were found in western Europe, existing 30,000 years ago. We need to admit, they were probably smarter than us, with larger brains. They lived in caves and have a reputation for giant noses.

Thanks for reading! -Written by EZ

Now, you may imagine islands as a lump of sandy land with palm trees and water all around it. The water part is correct, but not all islands and sandy and with palm trees. In fact, lots of islands have barely enough space for you to stand on! However, there are different types of island. Read on to find out what they are!

Alright. First of all, there are only two types of island : continental, and oceanic. But, these types of island both have two different ways of forming, so its going to be four parts, not two.

Type 1: CONTINENTAL

Scenario one: Let’s take the UK as an example. A couple million years ago, UK was connected to mainland Europe. There was a thin, wide slab of land acting as a ‘pathway’ or ‘bridge’ to the reset of Europe. This was when there was an ice age. However, as the ice age ends, all the glaciers melt, and sea levels rise. The connecting land is flooded / covered by sea water. The UK is now separated from mainland, and is therefore an island.

Scenario two: As you all know, the crust of the earth is split up into many, many different plates, and they often drift apart and together. So, this is how some islands are formed. Two plates meet / hit and stay in that position for many years. Let’s imagine there is a large piece of land on one plate, and a small chunk of land on the other. The small chunk of land is now in contact with the mainland. However, as continental drift continues, these two continental plates will slowly move apart. Now, the small chunk of land is no longer attached to mainland. It is now an island.

Type 2: OCEANIC

Scenario one: lots of islands in the middle of an ocean are formed this way. So, an underwater volcano starts growing where two continental plates meet underwater. As years pass, it keeps growing bigger. Finally, hundreds, tens, or thousands if year pass (depends on how deep the ocean is), and the tip of the volcano has finally broken the surface. The top of the volcano is now an oceanic island.

Scenario 2: Two continental plates start pushing against each other. One goes up towards the surface, the other goes down into the burning mantle of the earth. The plate going under melts. But, the magma bobs back up towards the ocean and dries on the surface, forming an island. As the melting of the plate continues, a chain of islands is formed. Japan was formed like this. It is still above the two different continental plates that formed it, so earthquakes happen often.

So, we’ve learned that oceanic means it grew out of the ocean, and continental means it used to be part of land.

Thanks for reading! -Written by EZ

Wolverines are not related to wolves. Actually, they’re more closely related to otters and weasels. They are one of the most ferocious predators in the world, despite their weird scientific name: Gulo Gulo

STATS: Wolverines are the largest species in the mustelid (weasel, otter, badger) family, after the giant otter. They can grow up to 1.2 meters long, including their tail. Their bulky build weighs 8-14 kilograms. They can run up to 48 kilometers per hour, chasing down their prey.

BODY FEATURES: Wolverines live in the northern Canadian islands and mainland. They also live in northern Russia. Wolverines have thick fur that is mostly black and brown, with while stripes running down their sides. A wolverine’s paws are broad and partially webbed, so that they won’t sink into the deep snow. They live mostly on land and in caves, but will sometimes swim (during the summer) and climb trees. Wolverines have a strong pair of jaws that can tear meat apart. Their thick molars are for gnawing on skin and bones; their long canines are for dragging and tearing. Wolverines also have short, burly legs that can run long distances without tiring.

FEEDING: Wolverines are some of the most ferocious predators for its size, in the world. They can hunt caribou, elk, rabbits, rodents, bird chicks/eggs, chasing them. Their teeth and jaws are very strong, being able to crunch every part of their prey. During harsh, winter months, Wolverines also scavenge. They also have a smart tactic to hunt easy prey. Instead of wandering almost 50 km a day, they can dig down into hibernating animals’ burrows. During summer months, Wolverines can eat fruits, roots, and bulbs. During their 12 years of life, they could wipe out all of your neighborhood critters, even your dog. Wolverines use a sharp sense of smell to track down their prey – they can smell one meat molecule in 5 million veggie molecules.

Thanks for reading! -Written by EZ

As evolution continues, more and more life evolves and is created. However, with all this life, there won’t be enough supply and food! So, the life on planet earth must be taken back a step.

365 mill. yrs. ago: The reptiles have appeared, followed by large trees. Insects and other bugs, like millepedes, have evolved into giants. The world is humid, and is very warm. All life thrives.

230 mill. yrs. ago: Now those tiny reptiles have grown, evolving into some of the largest creatures in the history of the earth: Disastrous Dinos. With dinosaurs on the land, pterosaurs soared in the air, and giant aquatic reptiles, such as Ichthyosaurs ruled the seas.

210 mill. yrs. ago: Finally, mammals have evolved. They are mostly small and agile rodents that feed on insects. I’m sure they would avoid getting tromped on by dinosaurs.

140 mill. yrs. ago: Birds have also evolved. They evolved from ‘raptor’ dinosaurs who were small and fast. Some raptors may already had feathers.

65 mill. yrs. ago: A giant meteorite (or at least I think its this way) hits earth, and the larger dinosaurs die out. The large, aerial and aquatic, reptiles also die out. As the cold blooded, large animals vanish, only small mammals and insects survive.

2 mill. yrs. ago: An ice age has set in. All those teency weency mammals are mostly giants now. There are cave lions, up to three meters long, sabertooth tigers, and woolly mammoths – even bigger than today’s elephants. Another amazingly adapted species has also appeared. This species is… humans!

0 mill. yrs. ago: The present. The ice age has ended, and plants, reptiles, fish, amphibians, birds, bugs, and mammals are all happily living on this earth. But good times may not last if humans keep polluting the environment and poaching the other animals.

THX for reading! -Written by EZ

The earth’s history is amazing, bringing you millions of years backwards in time. Today, I’m going to show you some major events during evolution on the earth, as long as it takes place more than a million years ago. Here we go!

4,500 mill. yrs. ago: The earth formed from the remains of an exploded star. During this period, magma, volcanoes, and burning air are every where. Temperatures may have soared up to 2,026˚ celsius.

4,000 mill. yrs. ago: Earth has finally cooled down. Little patches of water have formed and evaporated, bringing the first rain to earth. The burning magma has solidified into rock and mountains. The earth is now full of water and land. Finally a suitable habitat for animals and life.

3,500 mill. yrs. ago: sulphurous gases have stunk up the world, making our planet smell like fart. All these chemicals have crammed together to be molecules called deoxyribonucleic acid. This super long name is shortened to DNA. Yes, this is the beginning to life.

3,000 mill. yrs. ago: Some of the DNA molecules have evolved into bacteria, the world’s first germs and life, that feed on sulphur and live in the water. All that just stinks the world up even more. They breed in massive amounts, covering the surface of water around the world with a big, slimy bug curtain.

2,000 mill. yrs. ago: now, some of the bacteria have been fed with chlorophyll – a chemical that can absorb sunlight and turn carbon dioxide into the bacteria’s food. This means they release oxygen into the oceans – and that kills most of the other bacteria.

1,000 mill. yrs. ago: single cell worms have finally started to crawl about the seabed, feeding on bacteria. Finally a life form!!!

570 mill. yrs. ago: Now, the oceans and waters are full of life. There are ancient jellyfish, crustaceans, and seaweed but they all only have a couple of cells. Thankfully, most of them die out, or else the ocean would be crammed, and only the most adapted ones survive.

440 mill. yrs. ago: fish, the most adapted aquatic animals of all, have evolved. Along with them have come 3 meter long scorpions that eat fish. Some fish have evolved legs and start to explore land. Plants have started to grow on land.

410 mill. yrs. ago: Finally, the legged fish have adapted to land better, and they have become amphibians. Insects have also evolved from their ocean dwelling crustacean cousins, and now there’s air, land, and ocean life. Hoorah!

TBC in future blogs…

Thx for reading! -Written by EZ

I’ve talked about what sharks are attracted to before, and so now I’m going to tell you what sharks do with things they are ‘attracted’ to (mainly food).

BODY FEATURES: In order to hunt, sharks need special adaptations. Some ‘flat’ sharks have whiskers that allow them to skim the seabed, searching for crustaceans and other small creatures. Deep sea sharks’ chorodial layer can reflect light. This enables the shark to have a second chance at using the light to see. Some shallow water sharks can block out the light when there is too much. Most sharks have nostrils that help them smell. These are to smelling organs, which are connected to a relatively large brain. Around the head, there are also ampullae of lorenzi – a shark’s electricity detecting system.

HUNTING METHODS:

Great whites use this method of hunting.

[Step 1: the shark finds and circles its prey (seal). Step 2: the shark dives down and uses its dark top side to blend in with the sea below. Step 3: The GW gains speed as it charges upward. Step 4: The shark breaks the surface, slapping its prey into the air, often stunning the prey. Then they move in to eat.]

Whale sharks use a more whale like method.

[Step 1: the whale shark finds its prey (krill). Step 2: the shark uses strong muscles just to open its massive, flat mouth. Step 3: the whale shark gulps in a mouthful of water and krill. Step 4: the water is filtered out through the gills.]

Hammerheads, on the other hand, do it like this.

[Step 1: the hammerhead detects its prey (stingray) with extra ampullae of lorenzi. Step 2: The shark scrapes the seabed with its flat head to uncover the ray. Step 3: the hammerhead pins its prey against the sand, then chomps it up.]

Most those flat sharks go like this.

[Step 1: Gliding along the seabed, they use their whiskers to detect a flounder or small fish. Step 2: they use their powerful mouth to suck up their prey.]

Finally, some bizzare sharks hunt like:

[Step one: they locate a large amount of fish. Step 2: Multiple sharks join in, creating a feeding frenzy. Step 3: as the sharks feed, they get crazier and crazier, and they start eating each other.]

Thanks for reading! -Written by EZ.