Tag Archives: animals

Snow Tracks and (Un)believable Scat!

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Here at the Brooklyn Children’s Museum, we’re batting down the hatches for the impending storm. One upside to some serious snowfall is that it’ll leave behind the perfect medium for animal tracks. Check out these tracks I found in the garden after our last snowfall – proof of a real critter party! Sometimes, I want to tell our visitors to go grab their coats from coat check and come out to the garden for some winter exploration, but alas, it’s quite a trek up our rainbow subway tunnel.

The garden is more hospitable in the spring and summer, but animal tracks can be harder to spot, especially when we want to avoid trampling the plants. We solve this problem by planting animal tracks in the sidewalk-accessible soil for kids to find and identify. We also have a great collection of animal print stamps for our little ecologists to explore.

We found this to be a great math connection for kids. In one "Extraordinary Laboratory" program, we got out rulers and put down huge sheets of butcher paper. After the kids went ink-crazy with the stamps, they traced their own hands (and even feet!) and compared measurements. The could ask: Is my hand bigger or smaller than a bear paw? What about a muskrat claw? We talked about what we can know about the animal by the length of their claws or the size of their foot pads.

"Tracks, Scats, and Signs" by Leslie Dendy and "Whose Tracks Are These?" by James Nail served as great field guides for our students as they went about identifying their forest critters. 

Our animal prints also come with some alarmingly realistic “scat” models. For real naturalists, scat serves as a better marker for local fauna. Our newest science educator, Jordan, recalled this nifty rhyme for remembering the scientific (and more polite) term for animal droppings. Enjoy and stay safe and warm through the storm!

It starts with an S

                And it ends with a T

It comes out of you

                And it comes out of me

No….don’t call it THAT!

                Be scientific, and call it….SCAT!

Polar Bears and Ice Dens

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Every Wednesday, I teach a science lesson to our 1st grade after-school kids. So far this year, we've explored snails, stick bugs, camouflage, and games from around the world. A couple weeks ago, we learned all about polar bears!

Polar bears are the largest land dwelling carnivores. They prey almost exclusively on seals. Surprisingly, when food is plentiful, they’ll only eat the seal's fatty tissue- found in their brains and blubber- before moving on to the next kill. They are fully stocked with ice-hunting adaptations to make them fierce predators. Their paws have ice-pick claws that never retract and non-slip foot pads covered in tiny bumps that create suction on the ice. Their noses’ have a huge olfactory bulb that can smell a seal in water from a mile away.

Polar Bears are so well insulated that they often have to take dips in the icy water to cool down – they can swim for miles in Arctic water without stopping. Get this – each individual hair on a polar bear is a clear hollow tube. The hair funnels sunlight down to the bear's black skin where the heat is absorbed and retained under a layer of blubber!

We will be getting out our incredible Polar Bear skin specimen on December 30th for a “Blubber Up!” program all about Arctic animal adaptations. Though I'm glad the importation of Polar Bear hides has been banned in the US (decades after we acquired this specimen), seeing a hide in person is truly awe inspiring.Don’t miss the chance to examine their transparent tube hairs up close!

The after school kids used their new expertise to sculpt a polar bear out of model magic clay. It was interesting to see the kids flattening out their clay before beginning to shape it into a bear likeness. I realized that many of them hadn't sculpted before, and since we had only been looking at pictures of polar bears, they had trouble conceptualizing a 3-D bear!

We talked about molding a special long neck, strong swimming legs, and had to refer back to some pictures to remember if polar bears have tails or not. They were given a black marker to fill in the eyes, nose, and foot pads.

Since we just had our first snowfall, the kids were able to go outside and collect snow to build real ice dens for their bears! Each kid scooped up a bowlful of snow and shaped the snow to fit a mama bear and one or two cubs. By the end of the class, the dens were melting which was a perfect setup for next week’s topic: Climate change!

Stay tuned to hear about how six year old scientists talk about climate change.

A Snail’s Place

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One of our new school programs this year is called “A Snail’s Place.” This program was born when we discovered that kids don't just  dig snails, they love them. Whenever we bring out one of these plant-devouring gastropods, which we happily collect from our own garden, kids become transfixed in close observation. The excitement of a snail emerging from its shell and poking out one tentacle feeler at a time, the tactile sensation of their slimy foot moving across their hand, and the surprisingly quick responses of snails can hold kids' attention for twenty minutes (that’s like two hours in kid-minutes). Snail observation also escapes the fear factor that comes with observing other bugs like our Madagascar hissing cockroaches.

At BCM, we are always working to make our programs less didactic and more inquiry based! Rather than delivering all the interesting snail factoids to passive students, we want our students to feel empowered to do their own research and share their findings. We composed a snail resource sheet for the kids to explore. The students can read and share the facts they find most interesting and compare their live snails to the anatomical diagram. Can they find their eye spots? Can they find their spiral shell? Can they find their breathing hole?

We collect scientific observations and questions as the students observe. Some questions we’ve collected from the public include: Are snails good climbers? How do you think they move? What’s the purpose of that slime? Why do they come out in the rain? What kind of habitat do you think they like?

Our final activity is to review the things that snails need in their environment to be happy. The kids venture outside to collect sticks, rocks and leaves to build the perfect snail habitat! They observe how the snails interact with their new environment. Do they seek out the shade or the light? Do they like to eat all kinds of leaves? The students add their most successful snail architecture to our permanent snail enclosure.

Stay tuned for tips on keeping your own classroom snail tank!

Hello (and goodbye) Hummingbirds!

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As we enter into August, some of our most helpful garden visitors – ruby-throated hummingbirds – will be migrating south. These quick little birds can be hard to spot, but you’ll be more likely to encounter one before their journey south if you put out a feeder full of sugar water to fuel their trip. Hummingbirds need to eat every few minutes since they expend an incredible amount of energy beating their wings up to 80 times per second!

This week at the museum, we learned all about hummingbirds and constructed our own feeders to hang in a garden, or out a window, fire escape, or front stoop. All you need are floral tubes like these, some colorful plastic craft materials (we reused old red and orange grocery bags), string, and sugar water!

The colors of the bags are important – hummingbirds have a strong preference for red and orange flowers like bee balm, bleeding heart, cardinal flower, or nasturtium.

We showed our garden helpers how to fold squares of plastic into fours, snip the center corner, and then design their own pretty petal shapes (very similar to snowflake crafting). The next step is to simply shimmy the flower petals up the neck of the floral tubes, fill with 1 part sugar/4 parts water and hang outside! It is recommended to heat your sugar water so the sugar dissolves nicely, and you’ll want to change it every 4 days so it doesn’t ferment.

After your hummingbird feeder's hanging in a nice sheltered place, sit back and look out for a bright winged blur! Did you know hummingbirds spend so much time in the air catching bugs and slurping nectar that their weak little feet are nearly useless? They can perch, but they typically can’t walk!

Check out this tiny hummingbird nest from our collection. You can find more tips on making your garden a hummingbird nesting ground here. You can even help track their migration by reporting your sightings!

The Venomous Snake: A Villain and Hero!

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Ever see a snake bite in a movie and wonder what’s going on in that cowboy/adventurer/explorer’s body as they race to procure their anti-venom in time? This video shows what just one drop of Russell’s Viper venom does to human blood. Note: This video might be a little scary for younger kids so parents might want to take a look first. Thanks goodness none of the snakes at The Brooklyn Children’s Museum are venomous- we’d never mix toxic fangs with little children! However, we were surprised to find that these snakes may do just as much good as harm for humanity.

Catch those fleshy fangs in the video? Did you know that some snake fangs are so long, they fold back into the snake’s mouth when the snake isn’t striking? Fangs are hollow and connected to two sacs behind the snake’s eyes. When a venous snake strikes, the fangs deliver a large dose of venom to the unlucky prey.

As it turns out, the scary properties of snake venom can also have some life saving medicinal uses. Viper snake venom is used to test for certain blood diseases. Some diseases make people prone to excessive bleeding – their blood is missing the protein that keeps it from clotting or forming scabs. If a drop of snake venom was dropped in a beaker of their blood (like in the above video), their blood would not coagulate into a solid clump in the same way. A drop of viper venom can be used to stop excessive bleeding during surgery or after a major trauma, too!

Alternatively, Malayan Pit Viper venom thins the blood and can be used to break up blood clots in stroke victims. When a blood clot forms in the brain and causes a stroke, doctors try to dissolve the clot and increase blood flow to the brain before more neurons are lost, this can reverse some of the effects of the stroke.

Interestingly, the venom of other snakes like the African mamba affects the nervous system instead of blood and tissues. The venom travels through our blood to the brain where it blocks the chemical signals involved in our most basic human functions- like breathing and circulation. These are the same chemical signals that get interrupted in disorders like asthma, Parkinson’s, and Alzheimer’s. If researchers can break the code of mamba venom, they may understand more about these disorders and come closer to the cures.

Fantasia Feeding Frenzy!

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Did you know that the largest snake in New York lives at the Brooklyn Children’s Museum? Fantasia, a 245 lbs albino Burmese python, is always on view to the public in our Science Inquiry Center. Unless someone is hiding a mammoth snake in their bathtub (not a good idea!), Fantasia is the biggest!

There’s no more visceral way to introduce students to the concept of predation than to visit during a Fantasia Feeding Frenzy. Every other Thursday, crowds gather to see Fantasia presented with her prey on long forceps. Her tongue starts to flick, picking up the scent of her recently deceased food, and then she strikes! Check out this video of Fantasia striking at a chicken.

Of course, captive Fantasia doesn’t really have to do the work of preying on her food, but she quickly coils her constricting body over the chicken nonetheless. She’s overcome with the instinct to quickly hide and protect her food from any other potential predators looking to steal it away. Their lack of arms and legs make snakes fairly vulnerable during meal time.

This video shows Fantasia taking the final gulp of a four guinea pig meal. You can really spot her unhinged jaw and strong neck muscles pulling her furry treat down her trachea. Though Fantasia’s size makes her seem like she’s at the very top of the food chain, she’s really far from it. In the wild, Fantasia’s bright yellow color would have probably made her prey to a predatory bird or other beast as a small snake.

Try this fun outdoor Predator vs. Prey game with your kids.

  • One or two kids are assigned to be the predators. They are essentially “it”. Remind kids that there are always fewer predator animals in the wild since they’re at the top of the food chain and require the most energy!
  • Assign the rest of the kids to be prey. Have them stand inside several hula hoops bases spread out on the ground where they are safely hidden from predators and can’t be tagged.
  • Prey animals must leave their hula hoops to collect food — at least three items!  Gather some props to stand in for the prey animal’s food sources — some paper leaves or plastic bugs like these would be perfect!
  • Each round will last a few minutes and the prey that collects three food items without being “consumed” by predators wins!

Meet Indigo and Dots

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Some of the most memorable experiences we offer at The Brooklyn Children’s Museum involve adventures with our live animals. There are daily opportunities for kids to feel the scales of a snake, see a sea star extend its bright tubular feet, or let a delicate walking stick move across their outstretched hands. We’d like to introduce you to some of the animals that make teaching at the museum such a thrill.

photo by Nolynn Vega

Indigo, an albino corn snake, is native to North America. Corn snakes are found in the southeastern and central states. Their name comes from a propensity to hang around corn silos in search of small rodents, their favorite meal. Corn snakes are constrictors, meaning they kill or subdue their prey by squeezing before swallowing them whole in one big gulp.

photo by Nolynn Vega

Like all our snakes, they are gentle, non-venomous, and very unlikely to bite. My favorite part about teaching with corn snakes is that they love to move! This corn snake, Dots, loves to maneuver himself through my belt loop or key chain ring. When handling corn snakes, I’m much less likely to get the most commonly asked question: “Is that real?!”

Indigo’s beautiful “ghost morph” pattern and Dots' "fluorescent orange" color comes from selective breeding, a deliberate  mishmash of dominant and recessive pigment genes. The standard pattern of a corn snake is a beautiful blotchy brownish-orange that blends  well into shaded forest leaf litter. Indigo's light blue-grey color  and Dots' vibrant orange would have made it difficult to camouflage in the wild. They would probably have been eaten as young snakes by a predatory bird. We’re so glad they're with us!

Since we celebrated haikus in our last post…

Indigo corn snake

shines silver blue, singular

morph of gentle air.

Farm to Table Card Game

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Last month, we got kids thinking about where their trash ends up with Trash Talk and Loop Scoops. But let's start at the beginning. Where does our food come from? How many places does the slice of cheese on our burger see before it ends up on our plate?

At Brooklyn Children's Museum, we teach a program for school groups called, "It's Easy Being Green." We cover topics like proper recycling, energy efficiency, and sustainable food choices. The food activity splits kids into groups; each group is responsible for piecing together the life cycle of one ingredient on a burger. They're given cards that each represent one phase in, for instance, the journey of a slice of cheese. Take a look:

The journey starts here at "Sunset Farm". But why are we starting on a corn field if we're trying to get to a slice of cheese? 

To feed the cows! Unfortunately, most cows in the US are fed corn rather than the tasty grass that their stomachs were built to digest. The cow's milk then has to be transported to the cheese factory. That's two big truck rides so far for one slice of cheese!

The cheese then gets stored in a large warehouse with other grocery goods. 

A truck picks up the cheese from the warehouse and takes it to the grocery store where it's stocked on shelves and finally awaits your purchase.

Your cheeseburger can now be assembled and enjoyed! And now what? What about the packaging your cheese slice came wrapped up in? What about all your other food scraps? Where do they end up? 

Most of the time, they end up in a landfill.

Now, here's the challenge: After students have pieced together the journey of their cheese (there are twenty cards or steps for the cheese alone!) they have to figure out how to remove pieces of the production-distribution-consumption-waste system to make the whole thing more sustainable. How can we get this slice of cheese to travel less? This activity can lead to great discussions on Farmer's Markets, local food, and composting.

Want to try this activity with your class? Email GoGreen[at]Brooklynkids.org for a PDF version of the full set of Hamburger life cycle cards!

Wild Adaptations!

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We hope you’ve enjoyed our past few posts on biomimicry. There will be lots of opportunities to study surreal adaptations at the Brooklyn Children’s Museum this summer.

On June 3rd, we’ll be taking a close look at Phantastic Phasmids, the masters of camouflage of the insect world. Kids will get to interact with stick bugs and build their own leaf insect model.

Curious how nocturnal animals thrive in the dark hours? Join us on June 17th forCreatures of the Night where we’ll explore the adaptations that help night prowling moths, hedgehogs, bats and snakes navigate the dark.

On July 26th, we’re going to focus on Teeth, Jaws, Fang, Baleen! How are different animals’ mouths perfectly suited to eating their favorite prey? Kids can decorate their own toothbrushes to keep their chompers clean!

Join us for Mimicry, Schmimicry on August 16th and 19th when we’ll learn about tricky animals that have adapted to look like their scarier, more dangerous co-habitants.

Stay tuned as we highlight our favorite animal quirks!

The Evolution Game

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Axolotls have some wacky adaptations like feather-like gills on their head and the ability to regenerate limbs. They're endangered due to the non-native Carp and Tilapia that have been introduced into their native environment, gobbling up their primary food source. Come visit this interesting dude at The Brooklyn Children's Museum.

Activities on biomimicry can easily lead to questions about evolution. How did so many creatures evolve to have such wacky and perfectly suited adaptations? The Biomimicry Institute introduces students to the concept of natural selection through a simple hands-on game. Students begin in a circle surrounding a box of paper clips. Each student is handed a piece of paper. They may fold or bend their paper in any way that they think would make it the best “glider”. The object of the game is to get your paper to the box of paper clips in the least amount of throws. Each time a student’s “glider” touches the box the student may collect a paper clip. Read instructions for the full activity here.

The folds that the children make represent a natural mutation, with each round the student can adapt their glider to fly better.  The “gliders” equipped with mutations (folds and creases) most suited to their environment and best able to collect resources (the paper clips) stay in the game…they've adapted! Especially adapted gliders might even block other gliders ability to get near the box of paper clips. This helps show students what happens to organisms who share their environment with creatures extremely well adapted to obtaining their same food source. They can get crowded out!

One big piece of the evolution puzzle this game leaves out is "random variation". Each "mutation" that that students add to their glider is formed with the goal of gliding in mind. Can you think of a way to alter this game that would show students that mutations are random rather than designed?