King Cobras are known all around the world as possibly the most dangerous snake. However, black mambas are also highly underrated. They are extremely venomous, fast, and stealthy. So, between these two killer snakes, who would win?

First, let’s look at the statistical side. King cobras are significantly longer, being the longest venomous snake in the world, growing 3-5 meters long. However, Mambas are not small either, growing up to 3.5 meters long. King cobras have narrow bodies and are decent swimmers, often living next to a pond or lake. Again, black mambas have their own advantage. They are very fast, slithering up to 20 kilometers per hour for short bursts. To make it worse for the mamba, King Cobras’ venom is (sometimes) faster reacting than Black mambas’. Black mamba venom takes 20 minutes, although mostly 30-180 minutes. Cobra venom is most likely to kill you in just 30 minutes, being able to kill an elephant in 3 hours. Another advantage for the Cobra is that they are specialized snake hunters – their favorite meals are other snakes. To even things out, Black mambas are able to climb trees as well as slither quickly on land. Most black mambas live in rock crevices.

Now, I’m going to rate them:

Offense: Both snakes are extremely dangerous, but I’m going to give this to the black mamba for their speed. Black mamba: 97% King Cobra: 95%

Defense: Again, both are decent, but Cobras have more defense strategies and are larger. Cobra: 60% mamba: 55%

Smarts: Tie. Both: 78% (they are reptiles)

Now, imagine the battle. The two snakes are wandering around in their territory*, and their territories overlap. So, the hungry, snake eating cobra starts wandering into the mamba’s territory, looking for a meal. It slips out its tongue and tastes the air, detecting the black mamba. It doesn’t care about how dangerous the opponent is – it just wants to eat. So, it follows the scent trail to the mamba. The black mambas is completely oblivious to the threat and keeps wandering around. Suddenly, the King Cobra lets out a loud ‘HISS…’ and goes for the Black mamba. The black mamba whips around, finally detecting the vibrations. It hisses right back and ‘sprints’ towards the cobra. The cobra raises one third of its body off the ground, and opens up its hood. For a moment, the Mamba is frightened. The cobra takes this advantage. It shoots it head forward in one smooth, lighting fast stroke and takes the mamba right in the tail. The Mamba hisses and sprints away into the trees. However, soon after, it falls and dies.

The king cobra’s devious hood and agility has won it a meal!

*Black mambas and Cobras will never actually fight – they live on opposite sides of the world.

Thanks for reading! -Written by EZ

What is the largest land predator that comes to mind first? Probably the polar bear. But, lots of people don’t know about the other contestant – the brown bear. More specifically, the brown bear subspecies, the Kodiak bear. What would these two giants look like going head to head? Let’s take a look.

Again, let’s look at the statistical side first. Polar bears have the slight edge on size, averaging a length of 2.75 meters, while Kodiak bears average 2.5 meters. Despite this, Kodiaks are heavier, weighing up to 751 kilograms and averaging 625 kg. Polar bears, on the other hand, only weigh 680 kg at most, although the largest ever recorded was almost a ton. However, Kodiak bears rely mostly on berries and grass, while Polar bears are complete predators. Again, you could say that the Kodiaks are not carnivores for this reason, but I’m still counting them. Kodiak bears are faster, running up to 64 km/h over short distances, although polar bears can also charge 55 km/h. Polar bears are easily the better swimmer, swimming 10 kilometers an hour – faster than many olympic swimmers.

So here are the ratings:

Offense: Kodiak and Polar bears both have up to 5 inch claws and razor sharp teeth. 92%

Defense: Both can use their size and weight to defend, and polar bears can take to the water. Polar bear: 65% Kodiak bear: 57%

Smarts: Both mammals and have perfected hunting strategies 89%

Now, let’s imagine the battle. The Kodiak bear living on the coast of Alaska has just made a giant kill – a full grown moose. However, as it is enjoying the meal, a polar bear, hungry from the long summer, wanders over. The polar bear had picked up the scent of blood and is in desperate need for meat – it has ate eggs for weeks. Unluckily for the polar bear, the Kodiak won’t go down without a fight. But, the Polar bear does have the element of surprise. It sneaks up behind the Kodiak, preparing to lunge. The polar bear leaps up with a roar, landing with its claws in the Kodiak’s flesh. The food-full Kodiak bear spins and tries to shake the polar bear off. The weak polar bear doesn’t manage to hold on, but does manage to scrape flesh off the Kodiak. Now, the Kodiak bear is on the offense. It attempts a bit right at the polar bear’s neck. Luckily, the polar bear is agile and dodges the strike. Now, the Polar bear attacks again. It bites down hard onto the Kodiak’s ribs, tearing fur and skin off. The Kodiak roars in agony, rearing up on its hind legs. Somehow, the Kodiak manages to use a giant paw to whack the polar bear’s head. The polar bear is sent reeling. Now, the Kodiak understands that strength is not enough to beat its competitor. So, it dives underneath the polar bear and jumps, sending the polar bear flying. The polar bear finally realizes it is fighting a losing battle, and escapes into the water.

The Kodiak has taken the dub thanks to its year sustaining diet. These battles would probably never take place during winter, when the polar bear would be at its prime, because most Kodiak bears hibernate. But, maybe, when a polar bear is well fed, it can defeat the Kodiak bear.

Thanks for reading! -Written by EZ

Orcas and Great white sharks are amongst the two top sea predators. However, there can only be one best. If these two met head to head, who would win?

First, let’s look at the statistical side.

Orcas are larger than Great White sharks, measuring up to 9 meters long and 11 tons in weight. The GWS only measures six meters in length and two tons in weight. Also, Killer whales are very social animals – a pod can be consisting up to 30 members. The two predators are neck to neck in speed, both swimming up to 56 kilometers per hour. Personally, I think that Great whites have the advantage when it comes to senses, with electrical sensors and nostrils that can smell a drop of blood in an olympic swimming pool. Orcas use echolocation.

Now, let’s imagine what the battle would look like. Picture an injured walrus paddling around a rocky cliff. The Great white picks up the scent first and immediately heads that way. The orcas realize that a bit later, but the entire pod follows the leader. At this time, the shark has already reached the walrus. It is careful not to get hit by the sharp tusks, and decides to dive beneath it – exactly where the orcas are. The great white suddenly gets rammed aside by a 11 ton shadow – the leading male orca. The killer whales don’t see the great white shark, and start devouring the walrus. The Great white is outraged. It grabs for a calf’s underside. But, it turns just in time to only let the shark’s teeth scrape its pectoral fin. Now, the mother turns on the Great white shark. She uses her size to defend her baby while the rest of the orcas also catch on. They surround the shark, preparing to attack. The orcas take turns ramming and biting into the shark, eventually letting it bleed to death, suffering with liquidized insides.

These encounters are very possible in the wild, because orcas are some of the most widespread species in the world, swimming in almost every single mile of ocean.

Thanks for reading! -Written by EZ

Lately in school, I have been learning about black holes. Here, take a look of what I have right now:

Black holes are voids in space that suck things in their holes. Black holes can suck up dwarf planets, stars, asteroids, and rogue spaceships. Black holes are also enormously large and heavy.

Black holes use their gravity to pull and suck in anything that passes their event horizon, aka edge. The gravity is so strong that light will even get sucked in. After being sucked into the void, the object will shrink and stretch until infinity into the black hole’s center, also known as a black hole’s singularity.

Black holes were not discovered until the 20th century. In 1916, using Einstein’s theory of relativity, German physicist Karl Schwarzschild discovered that any extremely compressed mass can become a black hole. Finally, in 1971, the theory became the truth. Astronomers studying constellation Cygnus discovered the first black hole – Black hole Cygnus.

Types of black holes

Supermassive black holes

Millions and Billions times more massive than our sun. They exist in the center of every large galaxy. The supermassive black hole in the middle of the milky way is called Sagittarius A and is 400 million times larger than the sun.

Stellar black holes

10 to 20 times the mass of our sun. They form when massive stars die and collapse. They are scattered across the universe.  

Intermediate and Miniature

The other two types of black holes are not very common in the universe. They are called Intermediate and Miniature.

Many people think that black holes expand as the environment, the universe, also expands. However, this theory is wrong. As we wrote in a previous slide, black holes expand as they consume space objects, mostly dust particles.

Since black holes are invisible, scientists cannot study by directly looking at them through telescopes. Instead, they will look at surrounding reactions to black holes, such as accretion disks, disks of dust that surround black holes, and Quasars, which are blasts of particles that come out of supermassive black holes. With this information, scientists can use reasoning to guess where there are black holes. Lately, a few weeks ago, a picture of a black hole was taken.

“In space no one can hear you scream; in a black hole, no one can see you disappear.”

-quote by Stephen Hawking

Thanks for reading! -Written by EZ

Lots of animals are bred between different species. For example, (this one is fake) imagine a shark mating with a whale and having a shale baby. This blog is all about animals that have parents who are different species.

#1: Ligers and Tigons. First of all, I have already talked about these two creatures in my first blog, so go read that one if you want to learn about them.

#2: Zebroids. Zebroids are animals that are bred between a zebra and any other animal in the equine family. Some examples include: Zonkeys, where a zebra mates with a donkey, Zorse, where a zebra mates with a horse, and many other examples. Ideally, the Zebra is the father.

#3: Wholphins. These animals are only seen in captivity and are extremely rare. They are born when a male false killer whale mates with a female bottlenose dolphin. Wholphins are very large – they can grow up to six meters and weigh 600 pounds.

#4: Prizzly/Pizzly/Grolar bears. These bears are possibly one of the only animal hybrids that occur in the wild just as much as in captivity. They are born when a polar bear mates with a grizzly bear.

#5: Savannah cat. These cats were bred in captivity in the late 20th century and is a very popular cat. They are born due to a serval, a type of african wild cat, mating with a house cat.

Plastic is one of the most commonly used and thrown away material in the world – I could bet you you could see at least ten plastic objects from your computer seat. But, is all this plastic good or bad?

Plastic is awesome. It is useful for all things – bottles, tape, containers, straws, bags, etc. But plastic is also horrible. Where do all the plastic bags, bubble wrap, all ‘disposable one use plastic’ go? Answer: in landfills, and in oceans.

At first, a piece of plastic going into a landfill may not seem so bad: no animals or plants things live there. But then, as you throw away more and more rubbish, the old pieces of plastic haven’t just disappeared. Plastic does not degrade quickly – that plastic bag you used a few days ago would stay for centuries. So, landfills don’t have a ‘drainage system’; they keep enlarging. And, once a landfill is full, us humans will just build another one – either by cutting down forests or tearing down homes. And another thing – most people don’t like living near landfills – so they are commonly at the edge of land, the coast to the ocean. Now you might be thinking: just melt the plastic! But it doesn’t work that way. When plastics are melted in fires, they release toxic gas that result in lung cancer and many other breathing diseases.

When landfills are next to the ocean, strong winds and hurricanes may occur. This will very often blow tons of trash into the sea. They will then be seen as prey for many large marine predators and eaten. But you might think that those plastics will just get pooped out – they may, but the damage is done. The plastic consumed will release toxins into the muscles of the fish, reptile, or mammal. Many sea creatures are also tangled are captured in plastic materials, choking and drowning many. You may think that tiny organisms will survive because the plastic is too large, but that’s wrong again. Plastics don’t break down; they break up into tiny plastic particles called microplastics. Microplastics are often mistaken for plankton and consumed by krill, small fish, and other sea organisms. Again, this releases toxins into the muscles and fats, aka the parts where predators, like humans, like to eat. So, in the end, all this plastic comes back to us.

So, hopefully, I convinced you to use less plastic and use degradable materials instead, such as paper, wood, and cotton. I learned a lot of this from a documentary I watched at school, a plastic ocean.

Thanks for reading! -Written by EZ

Last time, I blogged about insects who look like plants or other objects. Today, however, I’m going to write about insects who mimic other insects. Let’s get into it.

#1: The Clearwing moth and hover fly. Now, these two insects both mimic the dangerous wasp. The Clearwing and Hover fly both have black and yellow stripes down their abdomen, clear, long, and narrow wings, and the hover fly also has similar body shape and texture – smooth, not hairy. The moth also makes up for its body shape by also copying the wasp’s noises.

#2: The fungus beetle. Now, these bugs mimic ladybirds, or ladybugs, and I don’t really think they do it that well. But, I’ll give them credit for what they have tried to do. The fungus beetle has a similar body shape, although larger than the ladybird, and most have similar color patterns on their wings.

#3: Last but not least, and probably the most interesting, is the hawk moth caterpillar. Now, I know that I said insects that mimic other insects, but this is a special case. Caterpillars will transform into insects, and these ones mimic snakes. It has a large, arrowhead shaped butt end, with scale and eye like decorations, making it seem like a snake. The caterpillar will also curve its body and wiggle like snake movement. Its real head end, however, is on the other side – and its head is actually tiny. Don’t forget that this caterpillar is also HUGE!

Thanks for reading! -written by EZ

In the animal world, many animals are deadly to eat, whilst others are delicacies (to predators). So, lot’s of the time, those tasty insects pretend to be a gross object or a dangerous, disgusting insect.

First off, let’s look at some of the insects who pretend to be everyday objects.

#1: The Rose horn tree-hopper. This little bug rests on branches with its sharp, skinny, upright, horn mimicking thorn back plate. If you look at some of these, they actually look like horns. However, some of them have rounded plates, making them easier to see.

#2: The Japanese leaf insect. This insect, as most people will know and can guess, mimic tree leaves. Their two wings are wide, spread out and brittle, mostly shaded green and occasionally brown. These insects also have flaps on their legs and head to make them look even more like leaves. Their skinny body is hidden below the large wings, and is also green.

#3: The Stick Bug. Everyone knows the stick bug that pretends to be a stick. They have knobbly, long, skinny legs and a narrow, brown body.

#4: Last but most interesting, the Giant Swallowtail Caterpillar. These caterpillars are born onto a tree or leaf. Once they hatch out of their egg, they immediately start eating, then growing. But as they grow, they are becoming more and more nutritious and clumsy – making them easy prey. So, Hairstreak caterpillars pretend to be… bird poop. They try to look like a lump and they are born shaded brown and white.

A type of frog also pretends to be bird poop – except it doesn’t mimic bird poo – it bathes in it.

Thanks for reading! -Written by EZ

(Next time, I will blog about insects/bugs who look like other insects/bugs.)

After being defeated multiple times in Canton, the Chinese finally summoned large forces. On May 22, 1841, the Chinese started to attack. They sent a fleet of fireships at the British coast and ships. The advanced battleships of the British were too quick to move for the fireships, causing them to crash into the port instead, setting it alight.

The British retaliated, sending loads of ammunition towards the Chinese. A devastating gun battle took place. However, with their abundance of high tech firearms, the British had controlled the river by morning. But all that time, the British had been on the defense. It was originally their turn to attack, but a Chinese peace flag halted them. But one Chinese official burnt the flag two days later. The desperate Chinese sent more fireships, but to no avail. Eventually, Chinese money was handed over to plead the British not to destroy Canton.

As Captain Elliot was trying to think of good terms to peace with the Chinese, people from Britain came with the news that he was fired. Now, there were no peace seekers in this war. Lin Zexu had also been removed by the Chinese emperor.

Now the British posed even more of a threat, capturing and seizure of Chinese forts by the British were now more and more common. Eventually, the english had took over Shanghai and reached Nanking. Finally, the emperor accepted he was fighting a losing battle. So, he finally agreed to British terms. The Chinese would pay 21 million pounds for the destroyed opium, and trade was going to be allowed more freely. But the Chinese still wouldn’t agree to legalize opium, so the British finally agreed. Also, Hong Kong was going to be given to the British for 156 years.

THE END

Thanks for reading! -Written by EZ

After the battle near Hong Kong, both of the two superforces, China and Britain, did not make any move. Little did the Chinese know, the British were preparing for war – bringing out their strongest and most recently built battleships, sending armies to India closest to China.

After months of hesitation, the British finally set out. They first arrived in Chusan, an island off the coast of Shanghai. Two representatives tried to negotiate, but it was hopeless. Both had strict demands the other side thought was ridiculous. So, soon, war had begun. The British had wanted the Chinese to surrender the island peacefully, but the stubborn locals refused. So, the British brought their well prepared and advanced weapons onto Chinese territory. Luckily for the British, not many brave Chinese had stayed, and others afraid had evacuated to mainland. So, after just hours of war, the island was taken over.

After this, the British sent out general Captain Charles Elliot to negotiate again. Captain Elliot was a reasonable man, and after simply hours of negotiation, one of the British problems had been resolved. The Chinese would offer six million pounds due to the destroying of so much British opium. However, the other British objective was yet to be accepted by the Chinese. They were simply to dignified to hand over another island to the British in turn for Chusan. There was more to be negotiated.

Unluckily, an english opium trader came and falsely tattled on the Chinese for preparing to continue the war. But Captain Elliot had no way of telling if it was a false alarm or not, so he decided to act. He commanded English forces to fire on the island of Chuenpee. The Chinese did not want to surrender due to fright of what lay on the other side, so they fought to the death. 600 Chinese were killed, and 100 captured. On the other hand, only 30 British had been injured!

Horrified of what they had just seen, the Chinese sent another official to negotiate. Finally, both British intentions had been allowed. The Chinese would pay 6 million pounds, as already said, and the British would hand over any conquered land in trade for Hong Kong. This seemed like a good terms for both countries. Right? Wrong.