Tag Archives: America

Gila Monster

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Gila Monster

Gila monsters have turned back the clock!

  • Gila monsters are a lizard of larger size native to the southwest of the United States and to the northwest of Mexico, and were named after the Gila River Basin or the Gila River, where they were initially found, in the United State’s Arizona.
  • A Gila monster has the scientific name Heloderma suspectum and is from the family Helodermatidae, the family of American venomous lizards.
  • Gila monsters typically grow to be 30 to 60 centimetres (12 to 24 inches) in length, making them the largest living land-dwelling lizard in the United States, and they usually weigh between 1.3 to 2.2 kilograms (3 to 5 pounds).
  • Habitats that Gila monsters thrive in include desert, shrubby areas, woodlands and rocky areas, and they mostly live alone in burrows spending most of their time there.
  • The diet of Gila monsters is carnivorous, consisting primarily of frogs, eggs, insects, birds, small mammals and lizards.
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A Gila Monster
Image courtesy of walknboston/Flickr
  • Gila monsters can live without food for months, although they may eat up to a third of their body weight in a single sitting, mostly eating their prey by swallowing whole.
  • Gila monsters have a very strong grip and are thus difficult to pry from a bite, while submerging underwater is the best method to force release, and although their bite is venomous it is not lethal to a healthy adult despite causing symptoms of weakness, great pain and a drastic reduction in blood pressure.
  • Around two to thirteen eggs are produced by female Gila monsters at a single time, and they are buried in a shallow hole.
  • Gila monsters are listed as near threatened, and in 1952, they were protected under law and were the first venomous animal to receive such protection.
  • The saliva of Gila monsters contains a chemical that can be used as a treatment for those with diabetes, as it assists in controlling blood sugar levels.
Bibliography:
Gila Monster, 2015, A-Z Animals, http://a-z-animals.com/animals/gila-monster/
Gila Monster, 2015, National Geographic, http://animals.nationalgeographic.com.au/animals/reptiles/gila-monster/
Gila Monster, 2015, San Diego Zoo, http://animals.sandiegozoo.org/animals/gila-monster
Gila Monster, 2015, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gila_monster

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Boggle

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Boggle

Boggle your mind with this wordy game!

  • Boggle is a game involving the creation of as many words as possible from special dice in a specified time limit, and involves two players or more.
  • Boggle generally features sixteen cubes or dice that have a single letter on each face, with the exception of ‘Q’, which is combined with the letter ‘U’ as ‘Qu’; as well as a container and lid, designed to hold the dice in place.
  • The typical aim of Boggle is to find words within the letter arrangements that sit next to each other on the dice, which are randomised each round by shaking the container.
  • Each Boggle player writes the words they find on their own piece of paper, and they are read aloud when time is up, which is usually three minutes on the timer.
  • Points are scored in Boggle according to the word length – generally those three to four letters in length score one point, with words eight or more letters in length scoring eleven points, while words found by multiple players are generally considered null and have a point value of zero.

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  • The longest possible words that can be made in a standard Boggle setup are ‘inconsequentially’, ‘sesquicentennials’ and ‘quadricentennials’.
  • A Boggle set’s letter dice may vary depending on the version, with some using a greater amount of less frequently used letters rather than common ones, or more challengingly arranged letters.
  • Boggle was invented by American Allan Turoff and it was originally published in 1972 as part of a three game pack by Parker Brothers, however it was later sold individually due to its increasing popularity, even though the game was initially turned down.
  • A number of variations of Boggle exist, with some having more or less cubes; others feature an electronic timer; and yet others are designed for younger children, or are compact for travelling purposes.
  • Due to the simple computer programming required, there are many electronic versions of Boggle, including servers that host the game online.
Bibliography:
Boggle, 2015, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boggle
Murphey M, Toy Designer’s Creations Boggle the Mind, 1978, The Milwaukee Sentinel, https://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1368&dat=19781209&id=sYRQAAAAIBAJ&sjid=-RIEAAAAIBAJ&pg=5118,2546867&hl=en
What is Boggle?, 2015, WiseGEEK, http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-boggle.htm

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Red Wolf

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Red Wolf

At such small numbers, red wolves can easily be lost among similar relatives.

  • A red wolf is a mammal of medium size, native primarily to the marshes in the eastern areas of the United States.
  • ‘Red wolves’ are also known as ‘Florida wolves’ and ‘Mississippi Valley wolves’.
  • The scientific name of a red wolf is Canis rufus or Canis lupus rufus, and it is from the family Canidae, the family of dogs.
  • The length of a red wolf, including the tail, is typically between 121 and 160 centimetres (48 and 63 inches) and it generally weighs between 23 and 39 kilograms (50 and 85 pounds).
  • The fur of a red wolf is generally a combination of red, brown, black, grey and white in colour, although it is most notably red on parts of the face, ears, and legs.
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A Red Wolf
Image courtesy of Brandon Trentler/Flickr
  • The carnivorous diet of red wolves consists primarily of rodents, rabbits, raccoons and deer, and they have an average lifespan of 10 to 12 years.
  • A female red wolf has approximately five to seven pups at a time, in dens in hollow trees, on river banks or in those that have been made by other animals but deserted.
  • By 1980, red wolves had become extinct in the wild as a result of coyote cross-breeding and hunting by humans, as well as possible habitat destruction.
  • Red wolves live in packs that can consist of two to ten wolves, and they are most often closely related to each other.
  • In 2015, red wolves were listed as critically endangered, due to captive breeding programs that allowed them to be reintroduced into the wild from 1987 in North Carolina, and as such, they are a protected species.
Bibliography:
Canis rufus, 2015, The IUCN Red List of Threatened Species, http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/3747/0
Red Wolf, 2015, A-Z Animals, http://a-z-animals.com/animals/red-wolf/
Red Wolf, 2015, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_wolf

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Slinky

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Slinky

Generation upon generation can relate to the Slinky.

  • Slinkies are famous toys that are primarily a coil spring with multiple entertaining properties.
  • A Slinky has the ability of stepping down stairs automatically, with moments of apparent defiance of gravity, and its properties are mostly governed by the physics of waves, gravity and momentum.
  • In 1943, Richard James, an engineer for the American navy, designed the Slinky after attempting to create a spring for use in sensitive watercraft equipment, when he accidentally discovered the spring’s ‘walking’ properties.
  • The Slinky became available commercially in 1945, after some alterations to the spring, although it was relatively unsuccessful until a public demonstration in Philadelphia’s Gimbels department store, in the United States, where the toy became an instant hit and sold out within an hour or two.
  • The name ‘Slinky’, meaning ‘sleek and graceful’, was given by the inventor’s wife, Betty, who found the word, which she thought represented the invention, after paging through the dictionary.
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Slinky
Image courtesy of Marcin Whichary/Flickr
  • Slinkies are traditionally made of flat steel wire, with a high carbon count and a diameter of 1.5 millimetres (0.0575 inches).
  • Plastic versions of the Slinky, that eliminate the safety hazard of electrocution, have been released, however cheap plastic imitations are also available, but they do not have the same abilities.
  • The colour of a Slinky is generally a silver metal colour, although plastic ones are commonly available in various colours including multicoloured, as in a rainbow.
  • Slinkies entered the Toy Hall of Fame in the year 2000, and a year prior to this they where depicted on a postage stamp.
  • Slinkies are not only a toy, but a tool used by physics teachers, as well as scientists in specific experiments, including multiple zero-gravity tests performed by NASA.
Bibliography:
The Invention of the Slinky, n.d, Priceonomics, http://priceonomics.com/the-invention-of-the-slinky/
Slinky, 2015, The Strong, http://www.toyhalloffame.org/toys/slinky
Slinky, 2015, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slinky

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Capsicum

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Capsicum

Capsicums may not by spicy but they certainly help spice up a meal.

  • A capsicum is a species of fruit that is popularly eaten as a vegetable, and is native to tropical areas of North and South America.
  • ‘Capsicums’ are also known  as ‘peppers’, ‘sweet peppers’, and ‘bell peppers’.
  • The scientific name of a common capsicum is Capsicum annum and it is from the family Solanaceae, the family of nightshades.
  • The colour of capsicums ranges greatly, though they are more commonly red, green or yellow in colour, but purple, brown, white and orange varieties are also available.
  • China was the largest producer of capsicums in 2007, with a total production of 14,033,000 tonnes (15,468,700 tons) out of the world total of 26,056,900 tonnes (28,722,800 tons).
Capsicum, Vegetable, Trivia, Ten Random Facts, Red, Bell Pepper, Green, Vivid, HealthyCapsicum
Image courtesy of Live4Soccer/Flickr
  • Red capsicums, compared to green, orange and yellow ones, are the sweetest, especially if they are not picked until ripe, while the green coloured fruit are the least sweet and are often just unripened red fruit.
  • It is thought that capsicums where first cultivated around 5000 BC, and the first European to discover the fruit was Christopher Columbus, when he visited the West Indies.
  • Capsicums, or sweet peppers, are unusual in that they do not contain capsaicin, which gives others in the genus of the same name, including chili peppers, a hot spicy flavour.
  • Capsicums are extremely high in vitamin C and high in vitamin A, and depending on the variety, they may also contain significant quantities of vitamins B6 and K, and folate, and they also contain many other vitamins and minerals.
  • Capsicums are eaten both raw and cooked, often as a side vegetable, especially due to the vegetable’s crispiness.
Bibliography:
Bell Pepper, 2015, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bell_pepper
Capsicum, 2011, Fresh For Kids, http://www.freshforkids.com.au/veg_pages/capsicum/capsicum.html
Capsicum, 2015, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capsicum

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Uakari

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Uakari

I would say uakaris are quite a cheeky bunch, wouldn’t you?

  • Uakaris are four species of monkey of small size, native to South America’s tropical rainforests in the Amazon River Basin.
  • The scientific name of a uakari is Cacajao, and it is from the family Pitheciidae, a family of New World Monkeys.
  • Uakaris range from 36 to 57 centimetres (14 to 22.5 inches) in length and weigh between 2 to 3.5 kilograms (4.4 to 7.7 pounds).
  • Depending on the species, uakaris have hair that can be coloured brown, red, white or black, while their mostly hairless face can be black or a vivid red colour.
  • The diet of uakaris consists primarily of fruit, as well as insects, nuts and leaves, and the monkeys are preyed upon by hawks and other large birds, and snakes.
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Uakari
Image courtesy of Paul Schlarman/Flickr
  • Uakaris live high up in tall trees, and spend much time jumping from tree to tree in leaps that can reach distances of up to 20 metres (66 feet).
  • The face colour of a uakari reflects the primate’s health, with a paler colour indicating a less healthy specimen, while species kept in captivity are notably more pale than their wild counterparts.
  • As a result of hunting and habitat loss, there has been a decrease in the population of uakaris, and as such, they are listed as vulnerable.
  • The tail of a uakari is notably smaller in comparison to other New World monkeys, reaching lengths of 15 to 18 centimetres (6 to 7 inches), and it is used primarily for balance.
  • Female uakaris give birth to a single baby every second year, and they generally have a lifespan between 16 to 22 years, and live in small troops of 10 to 30 animals, although they can number up to 100.
Bibliography:
Red Uakari, 2015, National Geographic, http://animals.nationalgeographic.com.au/animals/mammals/red-uakari/
Uakari, 2014, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uakari
Uakari, 2015, A-Z Animals, http://a-z-animals.com/animals/uakari/

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