Science Reflection

In class, we did an activity on predator, and prey. The exercise included elk, aspen, wolves, and other animals. The activity was based on Yellowstone National Park. First, this activity was a fun hands on experience. The elk would eat the aspen, and then wolves would come to eat the elk. Each animal was a student in the class. During this activity, I was an elk, and it showed that they were easily found from wolves. Also, to make this activity more realistic, the elk had to go find plastic, green leaves around the classroom. Some were more hidden than others, but to survive we needed two. As more people participated, finding leaves started to become harder. Towards the end of the activity we did in class, two wolves had to catch an elk before they got their leaves. We recorded the amount of wolves, elk and other animals at the end of class.
In this class activity, I learned a lot, while having lots of fun at the same time. I think the purpose of this is to learn about food webs, as well as predator and prey. I learned that if you take out one animal in an area, it changes many things. for example, If you take out the wolf in this situation, there would more more elk, to eat the aspen trees. This means that there wouldn't be as many aspen leaves for the other animals around the park. This activity was also very fun, because we got be apart of it, and it was easier to see what goes on, when people act it out. Also, when we added more and more people to the exercise it got more interesting, and became more of a challenge.

Science current event #2

"Skunks Strategy not, just black and white"

Researchers discovered recently, that Skunks may not only be avoided because of their smell. They think that it could be because of the black and white design in their fur. Skunks predators could be afraid of them because of their body shape, too. Hunter, a scientist, decided to do an experiment on this. He dyed stuffed skunks and foxes. The skunks he dyed gray and black, and the foxes he dyed white and black. He did this because he wanted to see if the skunks had a distinctive shape, not only smell and appearance. He located these in California where they are not very common. This happened around October, 21, 2008. Researchers did this because they wanted to know if skunks were a true threat, and if their body shape and coloration really turned off predators. The results were that most animals would sniff, or lick the stuffed skunks but most would mostly avoid them.

In my opinion, I think that this experiment was true, and that it is true that skunks may be a threat to other animals. I also think that they do have a shape, and a distinctive body shape that would have other animals avoiding it. Hunter also said in the article that some animals may not even eat skunks. I agree with this statement, because I think that maybe they just eat grass, and then die, so decomposers break them up. In conclusion, I think that Skunks are not just avoided because of their smell, I think it could be of their shape and coloration, too.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2009/11/091111092053.htm

current event #1

"Relocating animals"

Animals such as the elephant, cheetah, and lions might move to a new habitat. Some ecologists think that they should move them out into greater, more open plains in North America. People started to think about this event around November 11, 2005. They want to move these animals because they are endangered and they feel that relocating them may help. Also, ecologists believe it is a good way for wilderness preservation. The process is called, "rewilding." You would get some of the endangered species and send them off to north american places for them to try to live in a new niche. Josh Donlan of Cornell University says that it could restore the proper enviornmental balance and save many animals from going extinct. This is a new approach, and could change the way we think about wilderness.

I think that this is a good strategy to help out other animals. We have to consider that we aren't the only living organisms that need to be taken care of. Although this is a good idea, I also think that the ecologists should talk about it with the group of people who live nearby. This is because they may not agree with having wild animals live close by them. Also, when the animals move, it may be hard for them to adapt to a certain environment they aren't used to. Overall I don't think this is too bad of an idea, but it could be better. For example, the endangered species could become over populated and start to eat things from the food chains that would keep other organisms alive. It may result in having other species endangered, and North Americans unhappy.

findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m0EPF/is_10_105/ai_n15860748/