Roly Poly baby

Today in the backyard, I saw a baby roly-poly for the first time! It was so small compared to an adult roly-ply and it wasn't black like the adult roly-ply either. Here's a picture of an adult roly-poly. 

Asian and African Elephants - Differences

Last week I went to the zoo and saw the new elephant exhibit, Jumbe (the black rhino), the new lion exhibit, and the new meerkat exhibits. And there I learned that Indian elephants have their ears in the shape of India, just like African elephants have their ears in the shape of Africa. I also learned that only the male Indian elephants have tusks and the females don't, unlike the African elephants because both sexes of the African elephants have tusks. I also learned that African elephants are not easy to tame but that Indian elephants are easy to tame.
Here is a great blog post comparing ears of Asian and African elephants - http://amazing-creature.blogspot.com/2011/03/elephant-facts-difference-between.html.

Black Rhino in Cheyenne Mountain Zoo

I'm so excited to see the black rhino when we get a zoo membership again! His name is Jumbe. Here is a picture of him.

(Photo from The Colorado Springs Business Journal)

The Eggless Chick

People know that all mammals give birth to live young and that birds, reptiles, amphibians, and fish lay eggs. Check out this story of a chick being born alive. The egg was incubated inside the hen until it hatched. The chick was OK, but the hen died from internal wounds.

Tiny chameleons

In Madagascar some scientists found tiny chameleons. They're the smallest vertebrates with complex eyes on Earth! Being small means finding a good hiding spot and not needing big meals.

The chameleons do not move around when they sleep. It's so easy to pick them up in the night because they are not moving!

Archaeopteryx feathers

Paleontologists found a well-preserved feather of an archaeopteryx. When they examined it closely, they saw that the feather was black. So now they think that archaeopteryx's neck feathers were black. (AFP Photo)

Sharks First

Did you know that dinosaurs were the second big creatures to live on earth? The sharks were the first ones. After the fish appeared, the sharks appeared, but no dinosaurs yet.