The Pressure's On!

Photo courtesy 123rf.com

The giraffe has the highest blood pressure of all animals.  For more information click here.  What did you learn today?

70,000 Spiders!

Photo courtesy 123rf.com

There are 70,000 types of spiders in the world.  Spiders are venomous, not poisonous.  Click here to view a really great spider website.

Grasshopper Songs

Photo courtesy 123rf.com

To you and me all grasshoppers may sound alike, but each grasshopper species has it's own individual song.  Grasshoppers only mate within their own species, and they identify the different species by their song.  For more information click here and click here.

My favorite insect is the beautiful butterfly.  What is your favorite insect?

Science, Latin, and Technology 2012

Photo of Solanum sanchez-vegae, first plant to be documented in new system, courtesy sciencenews.org

As of this year, scientists may write new discoveries of plant, algae, and fungus species online in English.  Prior to January 1, 2012 all scientific discoveries had to be published in papers, and descriptions written in Latin.  Now only the names must be in Latin.  Since only about half of all plants and a tiny amount of all fungus and algae having been classified, scientists hope these changes will speed up the classifying of all this planet's species.  For more information click here.

My favorite plant is Gardenia augusta, also known as Gardenia jasminoides, the common gardenia shrub.  Gardenia is my favorite scent, and the shrub is beautiful all year (evergreen) even when it isn't flowering.  What is your favorite plant and why?

Rare Bumblebee Rediscovered

Photo of Cockerell's Bumblebee courtesy Biology News

The Cockerell's Bumblebee, the rarest species of bumblebees in the United States, has recently been rediscovered.  Last seen in New Mexico in 1956, the bumblebee was recently seen in Cloudcroft, New Mexico by scientists from the University of California Riverside.  This bumblebee lives in an area of less than 300 square miles, which is the most limited range of any species of bumblebees in the world.

For more information, see the website of BiologyNews.com.

What bumblebees live in your area?

The Fascinating Celebes Sea

The Celebes Sea is home to more underwater species than anywhere else on the earth, including 580 of the world's 793 species of reef-building corals, and about 3,000 species of fish.

For more info, click to view The Encyclopedia of Earth website.

For more maps, click to view The World Atlas website.