I use Birds of the Pacific Northwest Coast as my guide. It is a simple, color coded book with good illustrations. Every time our family encounters a new bird, we check it off in the “bird book”. My kids fight about who gets to check off the latest addition to our collection and love to watch the birds through the binoculars. I regularly take them to a nearby bird sanctuary where they can see species that they might not otherwise be exposed to.

My other interest in mushrooms. I love to try to identify all of the different kinds – I don’t eat any, and I have taught my children not to eat any. In addition, I have taught them that some varieties of mushrooms have toxins on their surface. In the autumn, our family goes on mushroom walks with our Audubon Mushroom Book. Since we live in a particularly rainy part of the world, we have a great amount of species to observe and check off. Pictured with this article is the beautiful, but poisonous Amanita muscaria; my favorite mushroom to look at. I once had a Biology teacher who studied squirrels in a particular region and found that they had been eating the white dots off of all the Amanita’s in the area. The white substance is hallucinogenic/deadly. Not a fungus that I would mess with, but those must have been some trippin squirrels!

On occasion, when we are out and about, we make a point of taking a sample of an unknown plant home to try to find out what it is. This both teaches our children to do research online and helps them get to know their environment a bit more. We also emphasize the importance of environmental stewardship. These values came to the surface when we discovered an infestation of gigantic ants in our house. I had been on an ant killing spree for several days, and felt enough shame that I didn’t want my kids to see me killing bugs. When they discovered the ants on their own, a massive cup and paper operation began. They trapped the ants with their plastic cups, slid paper underneath and released the lucky ants outdoors. I think they rescued about 20 ants. This may seem a bit extreme, but we also name the spiders we find in our house. Clarisse was with us for several months, living on top of our pantry shelf.

One of the projects set to begin is to number the snails in our yard and track their movements. We plan to put a mark on their shells with a felt pen and make a point of looking for them when we are outside. We can see how long they live, where they go in the garden and how they change over time.

Fossils are also of great interest in me. We happened to be lucky enough to live near a river that was an abundant source of fossils. Any given summer day would have my little ones playing in the shallow calm of a riverbed, while I nearby, examined rocks for fossils. I was never disappointed. Most of the finds were ammonites, clams and mussels, but what a great springboard for teaching! I had them looking for fossils with me, and they were more interested in discovering a great find than in splashing around the river.

No matter what the season, you can find an enjoyable activity outdoors: in the autumn and winter; mushroom hunting, late winter/early spring is great for water fowl, in our part of the world. Summer time is a good time for looking at song birds and hummingbirds. If you like to camp, you can listen for owls and bats. Bats come out at dusk to hunt mosquitos, and chances are, if you think you see a bird at dusk, you are probably seeing a bat.

The point of all of this; even if you live in a big city, there are ways you can discover nature with your kids that will help them in their learning and nature is never far away.

The Elf Owl is not nearly so goulish. They live in the Southern U.S. and in Central Mexico, migrating between the two places. The like to live in woodpecker holes in trees and cacti and feed mainly on insects; including scorpions; talk about spicy! The Elf Owl is listed as Least Concern with the IUCN.

If they are raised by hand; meaning that they were fed from infancy from a bottle by a human, they are very well socialized towards people. Some even like to come into the house although I wonder if they can be toilet trained. Neutered males make the best pets as they carry a minimal amount of scent and their horns are usually cut off in infancy to protect their owners and the herd.

Alligators are found in only two places in the world; the southeastern United States and in China. The Chinese alligator is classified as Critically Endangered by the IUCN. It is found in small bodies of water on the lower Yangtze River. Habitat destruction is the biggest culprit as more and more Chinese land is converted for agricultural uses – we really are insatiable in the West aren’t we? There is hope for them; there are over 10,000 Chinese alligators in zoos and sanctuaries. This is probably enough to maintain genetic diversity. Crocodiles are found in Africa, Asia, North and South America and Australia.

Alligators, in general have a more pointed and stronger jaw that assists them in crunching through the hard shells of turtles that are plentiful in their habitat in the United States. Crocodiles have a weaker jaw. Their jaws are also different. Only the top teeth are visible on an alligator with a closed mouth; their top jaw completely covers their lower jaw whereas crocodiles have jaws that allow their teeth to fit nicely between each other; meaning top and bottom teeth are both visible.

Two more interesting features distinguish alligator from crocodile. Small sensory organs on the skin of both animals are thought to detect changes in pressure, allowing them to locate prey easier. Alligators only have them in the area around their head, whereas crocodiles have them covering most of their body. The second feature is salivary like glands in the tongue that secrete salt. Both alligators and crocodiles have these organs, but they are only active in crocodiles. This is why crocodiles are able to live in ocean and fresh water while alligators live only in fresh water.

As with many things in life, there are exceptions to the rule. The Indian Mugger crocodile actually has a snout resembling an alligator, but is a crocodile in all other ways.

Frogs live in or around the water, have bulging eyes, wet skin, teeth, webbed hind feet and lay their eggs in clusters. Toads live on dry land, and have a dry body. They only go into the water to lay their eggs, that are wrapped around water plants in long strings. They have shorter legs without any webbing between their toes and they have a poison secreting gland behind their eyes.

Frogs are found on every continent in the world except Antarctica whereas toads are not normally found in Australasia with the exception of the Cane Toad which was introduced to Australia in order to protect against the Greyback Cane Beatle (except for those of you Simpsonphiles out there who may remember when Bart brought his pet toad to Australia and brought backa Koala Bear to Springfield). The Cane Beatle notoriously destroyed sugar cane crops. As with the case of many introduced species, the Cane Toad quickly became a problem; in part, because any animal; domestic or wild who consumes the toxic Cane Toad, will die. I am sure there are cases of introduced species that have worked out well… many of the plants that we grow in North America are probably imports, and yet they sustain us. I wonder what affect it had on the local plants. Food for thought.

What is the Biggest Land Animal in the World?

The biggest land animal in the world is the African Bush Elephant weighing in at over 7000 kg. and standing up to 3 and half meters at the shoulder. It is considered a vulnerable species on the IUCN list.

Wonder what is the smallest whale in the world?

Wonder what is the smallest animal in the world?

The Kodiak bear resides on the Kodiak archipelago in Alaska. It is technically classified as a subspecies of Brown Bear who have the “horrible” taxonomic name of Ursus arctos horribilis, but in honor of the Russian who discovered this unique subspecies, the Kodiak bear has a much more respectable taxonomic label: Ursus arctos middendorffi. The Kodiak bear weighs between 450 and 550 kg. Their IUCN conservation status is Least Concern. Interestingly, there are some genetic similarities between the Kodiak bear and other brown bears found in eastern Russia. The Kodiak bear is the biggest land based carnivore in the world subsisting on mainly river salmon, mountain blueberries, and animal remains.

Want to know what is the smallest bear in the world?

The largest bird in the world is the ostrich, a flightless bird that weighs up to 160 kg and stands almost 3 m. high. Although the ostrich is native to Africa, ostriches are farmed around the world including countries as far north as Finland. An ostrich egg weighs approximately 1.4 pounds, the largest of any bird egg in the world. After hatching, it can live up to 70 years, but its average life span is 50 years.

They are listed with the IUCN as being of Least Concern, but were at one time almost hunted to extinction in the 1800′s for their leather and feathers (which were used to make fashionable ladies hats and feather dusters). Ostrich leather is known to be very strong, and the meat is said to taste like beef. In some parts of the world, ostriches are ridden in races, but due to their less than genial demeanor and human rights concerns, this practice isn’t wide spread.

The biggest flying bird in the world can be broken down into two categories; what bird has the biggest wing span and what flying bird weighs the most.

The bird with the biggest wing span in the world is the Wandering Albatross whose wing span can be over 5 m from tip to tip! The Wandering Albatross lives in the southern oceans of the world and spends most of its life at sea except to take short breaks and mate. It is a frequent visitor to New Zealand and Australia. It is listed with the IUCN as being Vulnerable.

The biggest flying bird by weight is the Great Bustard, averaging 12 kg. One large fellow was found to weigh close to 21 kg! It can be found in Europe and the warmer parts of Asia. It is listed as Vulnerable by the IUCN, but European countries are making efforts to protect this bird, which, interestingly enough is the national bird of Hungary.

Siberian tigers face two very strong threats to their survival; the first is illegal poaching. A tiger can sell for up to $50k on the black market. It is used in Traditional Chinese Medicine for its bones and other body parts, although there has been no scientific evidence that tiger parts have any medical healing properties. Both China and Russia have instituted measures to protect the Siberian Tiger, but resources are needed to stop illegal poaching. The second major threat to the Siberian Tiger is habitat destruction. Deforestation threatens the prey upon which the tiger survives; mainly deer and wild boar. A full grown tiger can eat as much as 27 kg of meat in one night, making habitat destruction a real problem.

The Species Survival Plan is breeding Siberian Tigers in captivity with the hopes of eventually releasing them into the wild. There are over 200 tigers involved in this program; 160 of them are Siberian Tigers, so there is some hope of species recovery.

Want to know what is the smallest cat in the world?

Among the two heaviest breeds in the world are the Saint Bernard weighing in between 72 and 110 kilos and the English Mastiff whose weight can be over 91 kilos. The Guinness Book of World Records notes one English Mastiff by the name of Zorba who weighed nearly 143 kilos (better get a second couch for him!)

The tallest breed of dog in the world is a tie between the Irish Wolfhound whose average height is 90 cm at the shoulder, and the Great Dane who stands at between 76 and 100 cm.

It is a comfort to know, however that, for the most part, the temperament of the these man-sized dogs is quite good. Great Danes are known to be friendly, gentle, good with people (including kids) and other dogs. Irish Wolfhounds are known to be good natured, gentle, intelligent and good with children. English Mastiffs are known as loyal, devoted family dogs and make good guard dogs. They are generally gentle and good natured unless someone poses an immediate threat to their family.

Want to know what is the smallest dog in the world?