Ladybugs in Love - A Valentine's Day Science

Ladybugs are cute insects that usually live by themselves. They munch on bugs and help farmers and gardeners. But when the weather gets colder and the bugs they eat disappear, the ladybugs fly up high and let the winds carry them to the mountains. They find their way to the same spot and look for their true love.

Once they found their mate, they gather together - thousands of them, and get ready to hibernate for the winter.

Ladybugs aggregate in Reinhardt Redwood Regional Park, Oakland, CA. Photography - Dr. Orna Kretchmer

There are more than 4,500 different species of ladybugs in the world - more than 400 of them in North America. They come in many different shapes and colors.

Convergent Ladybug. Photography by Dr. Orna Kretchmer

Ladybugs are one of the most loveable insects, and in many cultures it's considered to be a sign of good luck when a ladybug lands on you.

Ladybugs are insects

All insects are invertebrates - they do not have a backbone.

They are cold blooded - their body temperature changes depending on how warm or cold the air is around them .

Insects can be found in every country in the world.

All insects have three body parts: Head, Thorax (chest), and Abdomen (belly).

All insects have six legs.

On the head of the ladybug we will find their mouth, eyes, and two antennae.

The chest has three pairs of legs and two pairs of wings.

The belly contains organs for food digestion and breathing. The ladybugs breath through openings on the sides of the chest and belly.

Many people think that insects are annoying and irritating (or even scary), but many insects are very important both to the environment and to humans. Insects like wasps, bees, butterflies, and ants pollinate flowers or spread plants' seeds, helping us have good crops and beautiful flowers and trees. Ladybugs help farmers by eating aphids and mites - bugs that can harm plants.

Ladybugs are helpful and cute.

1. Ladybugs are beetles.

2. Not all ladybugs have spots. Some are spotless.

3. Ladybugs lay their eggs on leaves.

4. Ladybugs go through a process called Metamorphosis - their body shape change completely - from egg to larva, pupa, and then to adult.

5. Ladybugs can live between 1-2 years.

6. Their main predators include birds, frogs, spiders, wasps, and dragonflies.

7. Their bright red color "tells" predators: "we are not tasty".

Love in Nature

Click on THIS LINK - to see Hearts in Nature - National Geographic Kids

Happy Valentine's Day !

Big Ol' Jonathan the Tortoise

Jonathan lives on St. Helena island .

He is a giant tortoise.

He is very old.

Jonathan is not just the oldest giant tortoise, but probably the oldest living land animal on the planet!

So how old is Jonathan?

Jonathan does not have a birth certificate, so we can not be precise. It is believed that he is about 190 years old!! WOW!!

He was brought to St. Helena Island as a gift in 1882. As he was already fully grown upon arrival, he should have been at least 50 years old. That means he might have hatched in 1832 (or earlier), so this year he will celebrate his 190th birthday.

Jonathan (left) with another giant tortoise (1886) (Wikipedia)

About Giant Tortoises

They are Reptiles

Reptiles are vertebrates - they have backbones. They are cold-blooded animals whos' body temperature is raised by lying in the sun and lowering it by crawling into the shade. They lay eggs. Giant tortoise eggs are about the size of a tennis ball.

In the reptiles group you can find snakes, lizards, alligators, crocodiles, turtles and tortoises.

They are Herbivores

Herbivores are animals that only eat plants. Herbivores (such as rabbits, giraffes, and goats) have teeth that are adapted to grind vegetables. Many animals that eat fruits and leaves sometimes eat other parts of plants like its roots and seeds.

*Animals that eat only meat are called carnivores

*Animals that eat both plants and meat are called omnivores.

They are land animals

Land animals are animals that live mainly or entirely on land (like cats, dogs, ants, spiders and more).

*Aquatic animals live mainly or entirely in the water (like fish, lobsters, octopuses and more)

*Amphibians live their first part of their life in the water and the second part on land (like frogs, salamanders and toads)

They are big

Giant tortoises can weigh more than 900 pounds and can grow to be 4-5 ft. long.

More about giant tortoises

• They are very slow and spend lots of time basking in the sun

• They compete with each other by extending their necks out of their shells to see which of them can extend it the highest

• A baby giant tortoise is called a hatchling

• they are gentle creatures but can bite if feel threatened

• No - the grooves on their shells cannot be used to tell how old they are.

• They are considered endangered species

• They are very powerful and can smash small trees

Jonathan loves having his neck stroked

Jonathan loves bananas, cabbage and carrots.

Here he is in April 2021 (Wikipedia):

What happened in the world during his life?

• When England's Queen Elizabeth great-grandmother Queen Victoria became the queen in 1837, Jonathan was already 5 years old

• The first telephone was invented in 1849 - when Jonathan was 17 years old

• The first car was invented in 1886 - when Jonathan was 54 years old

• The Wright brothers had invented the first successful airplane in 1903 - when Jonathan was 71 years old

• The first parking meter was invented in 1932 - when Jonathan was 100 years old

• The first men landed on the moon in 1969 - when Jonathan was 137 years old

• The first personal computer was invented in 1976 - when Jonathan was 144 years old'

• The internet was invented in 1983 - when Jonathan was 151 years old

• Google was founded in 1998 - when Jonathan was 166 years old

Jonathan the tortoise already saw 40 US presidents:

1. Andrew Jackson 1829-1837

2. Martin Van Buren 1837-1841

3. William Henry Harrison 1841-1841 (died in office)

4. John Tyler 1841-1845

5. James K. Polk 1845-1849

6. Zachary Taylor 1849-1850

7. Millard Fillmore 1850-1853

8. Franklin Pierce 1853-1857

9. James Buchanan 1857-1861

10. Abraham Lincoln 1861-1865

11. Andrew Johnson 1865-1869

12. Ulysses S. Grant 1869-1877

13. Rutherford B. Hayes 1877-1881

14. James A. Garfield 1881-(Died in Office)

15. Chester A. Arthur 1881-1885

16. Grover Cleveland 1885-1889

17. Benjamin Harrison 1889-1893

18. Grover Cleveland 1893-1897

19. William McKinley 1897-1901

20. Theodore Roosevelt 1901-1909

21. William Howard Taft 1909-1913

22. Woodrow Wilson 1913-1921

23. Warren G. Harding 1921-1923

24. Calvin Coolidge 1923-1929

25. Herbert Hoover 1929-1933

26. Franklin D. Roosevelt 1933-1945

27. Harry S. Truman 1945-1953

28. Dwight D. Eisenhower 1953-1961

29. John F. Kennedy 1961-1963

30. Lyndon B. Johnson 1963-1969

31. Richard M. Nixon 1969-1974

32. Gerald R. Ford 1974-1977

33. Jimmy Carter 1977-1981

34. Ronald Reagan 1981-1989

35. George Bush 1989-1993

36. Bill Clinton 1993-2001

37. George W. Bush 2001-2009

38. Barack Obama 2009-2017

39. Donald Trump 2017-2021

40. Joe Biden 2021-present

Can Penguins Take a Selfie?

Last Thursday, January 20th was Penguin Awareness Day - lets celebrate these cute birds!

Penguins are flightless birds. Flightless means unable to fly. There are other flightless birds like Ostrich, Kiwi, Cassowary, and more, but the penguins are the only birds that can swim but can't fly.

There are more than 17 different kinds of penguins in our world and they primarily live in the Southern Hemisphere.

How do they keep warm?

Some penguins stay in the water for as long as 5 months. They eat, sleep, and swim thousands of miles and must keep warm in the water.

Penguins have dense feathers that cover their entire body. These feathers have an oil-producing gland that make their feathers waxy that keep the water away - therefore their skin stays dry.

In addition, penguins have a layer of fat under their skin called "blubber" that keeps them warm.

What do they eat?

Various fish and other sea life that they catch underwater.

Predators

On land, adult penguins have no natural predators. The eggs and the chicks might be eaten by birds. In the water, they may be eaten by seals and whales.

In order to protect themselves, penguins live in large groups and huddle.

Camouflage

Camouflage is a way of hiding something by covering or coloring it so that it looks like its surroundings. Animals use camouflage to hide themselves from predators and survive.

Penguins' black and white coat is great for camouflaging - the black back makes it hard to detect from above, and the white belly looks as if the sun is reflecting off the water's surface if you look from below.

From left to right - Louisiana State University/Michael Polito;

Paul Nicklen/National geographic

A group of penguins in the water is called a raft

but on land they're called a waddle!

A Baby Penguin is Called a Chick!

The Wildlife Conservation Society's (WCS) Argentina Program has released an amazing underwater selfie video recently taken by a penguin fitted with a special camera. To increase awareness to penguins, they strapped a video camera to a Gentoo penguin, therefore being rewarded with a penguin's eye-view of how to hunt sardines.

The video shows the usual feeding spots of the Gentoo penguins which are near the sea bed, where they hunt for crustaceans and small squid. However, when they stumble upon a school of little fish, they won't miss a chance for a snack :😊.

To watch the video and read more click HERE.

Did you know?

• Penguins are birds that can not fly

• There are no penguins in the North Pole

• Penguins can drink sea water

• Penguins spend half of their life on land and half under water

• Penguins in Antarctica have no land predators

Quiz - can you identify these famous cartoon Penguins?

(answers at the bottom)

Let's watch some funny Penguins:

Quiz Answers - From left to right:

1. The penguins of Madagascar

2. Wheezy (Toy Story)

3. Mumble (Happy Feet)

4. Cody Maverick (Surf's Up)

Vocabulary

Marine Biology - the scientific study of the biology of marine life, organisms in the sea

Camouflage - a way of hiding something by covering or coloring it so that it looks like its surroundings