Thank you for the walrus drawing from Francine

This is a great letter from Julia

Do you have some awesome artwork you want to show us? Here’s how you can contact us:

By Email
bbtw@earthrangers.com

By Mail
Bring Back the Wild
Attention: Susan Dyer
9520 Pine Valley Drive
Woodbridge, Ontario L4L 1A6

Earth Rangers is a non-profit organization that works to inspire and educate children about the environment. At EarthRangers.com kids can play games, discover amazing facts, meet animal ambassadors and fundraise to protect biodiversity.

American badger burrow

American badgers can have up to several dozen of these underground burrows across their whole territory; at any given time, some will be in active use while others will be older burrows that are inactive. Sometimes badgers will even start reusing a burrow that they had previously left. Together these burrows form a network of underground hideouts that the badger will use for hunting, sleeping and for protection from cold weather. When females give birth in March or April they also use these burrows to protect their young from predators like raptors and coyotes.

No Place to Dig

Today the biggest threat facing American badgers in Ontario is habitat loss. As land gets developed there are fewer grasslands and natural sandy ridges for badgers to build burrows. Given that so many nice burrowing spots are disappearing fast, the American badger is finding it tough to make a home. That’s where Earth Rangers just like you are helping! Earth Rangers and the Nature Conservancy of Canada are working together to help give the American badger population in Southwestern Ontario places to dig their homes.

Dirt That’s Ready for a Badger

This Bring Back the Wild project is helping to create denning habitat in a 100-acre agricultural field in Southern Norfolk County. Natural sand ridges are being built with bulldozers where these ridges previously existed in the field and low-lying areas are being dug out to create seasonal wetland habitat. This earth moving, along with the planting of native grassland plants, is helping to create ideal spots for burrowing and habitat corridors between grasslands that allow badgers to travel more safely. Over 60 different species of native grassland plants like Brown-eyed susan, Wild bergamot, and Round-headed bushclover have been planted this spring, transforming this habitat into the perfect badger home. Earth Rangers, the Nature Conservancy of Canada, and kids just like you are doing all we can to help protect Ontario’s American badger.

Badger Tracking

While the Nature Conservancy of Canada is building badger homes, field biologist Josh Sayers is continuing to track the six badgers nearby that were radio-tagged last summer. The badgers, named Brian, Steve, Keith, John, Ken and Sue, are all doing great and will continue to be tracked this summer. There are even some exciting new additions; the female of the bunch, Sue, has at least one kit! Josh has also found a new active American badger burrow for the 2013 summer season close to where the earth moving is happening. Cameras have been set up to monitor this new burrow because this new badger will likely be one of the additional four that Josh plans to radio-tag this summer.

Field biologist Josh Sayers spots a new badger!

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Earth Rangers is a non-profit organization that works to inspire and educate children about the environment. At EarthRangers.com kids can play games, discover amazing facts, meet animal ambassadors and fundraise to protect biodiversity.

Lichen on the Land

Lichens are a unique and fascinating combination of fungus and another organism that goes through photosynthesis (called photobionts), usually algae or cyanobacteria. These organisms work together to form what is known as a symbiotic relationship, which is where both parties benefit from working together. In this case, the photobiont produces sugars through photosynthesis (just like leaves on trees!), which provides the fungus with a food source, and the fungus produces nutrients that benefit the photobiont. Thanks to this relationship, lichen can be found in a wide variety of habitats, including on the trunks of trees or leaves in moist forests, on fallen logs, bare rocks, or on soil. Lichen also thrives in some of the most extreme conditions, including hot, dry deserts and the frigid cold Arctic tundra.

During the winter, food is often scarce on the Arctic tundra. The presence of hardy organisms like lichen can mean the difference between surviving and starving for large mammals like caribou. Being the primary food source for large migratory caribou herds in North America, lichen can become depleted quickly. As long as the conditions are correct, the lichen can grow back and provide caribou with food for another winter. Unfortunately, when climate change is added to the mix, it’s a different story.

Climate change is causing the Arctic to warm up and dry out, making it more difficult for Tundra lichen to grow back for the winter. This critical winter food source for large migratory caribou is disappearing, which could lead to population declines in the future. Who would have thought that climate change could impact large animals like caribou by hurting the tiny lichen that caribou eat?

Plankton in the Water

In 1989, sea level pressure in the Arctic dropped sharply. When sea level pressure changes like this, it can cause a change in the flow of air and water. Warmer, more salty water from the North Atlantic Ocean started flowing into the Arctic Ocean. This wouldn’t have been too bad, except that at the same time there were also significant changes to the climate. Permafrost, snow and ice were all melting at a faster rate than before and there was an increase in precipitation. Eventually all this water made its way to the Arctic Ocean, causing an even more dramatic change in the water flow. The warm salty water was coming up from the south, and the cold, less salty water was pushed down from the north.

These major changes to the environment meant that species living in the Arctic and Atlantic Oceans have had to adapt or move if they want to survive. Take plankton for example. Studies have shown that plankton found in the Boreal regions have travelled south, while subtropical and temperate plankton have moved north. Not wanting to miss a meal, Boreal fish species have followed the northern plankton species south, and subtropical and temperate fish species caught up with their plankton in northern waters.

This movement of plankton and fish might not seem important, but it can really impact the ecological marine food web. For species living in the Arctic that can’t easily move south, and/or need specific animal prey to satisfy their diets, the southern migration of these fish can leave them without food.

Final Thoughts

Understanding how climate change is impacting environments has taken many years of scientific study, and many more are still needed. The Arctic, like most ecological environments, is a highly resilient yet sensitive ecosystem. What seems like small changes to the food web can have major impacts for many Arctic species. As key species disappear, predators need to switch to other prey or starve.

As we continue making positive changes in our lives that reduce how we impact habitats around us and the habitats far away from us (like the Arctic), we can help offset the effects of climate change. Living in the Arctic is hard enough already, let’s give these species something less to worry about. Earth Rangers, kids just like you, and our various conservation partners keep working to help save animals. Together we ARE bringing back the wild!

Sources:
http://www.unis.no/sios/app%203%20sea%20observatories.pdf
http://www.thebls.org.uk/about-lichens/what-is-a-lichen
http://septentrio.uit.no/index.php/rangifer/article/viewFile/345/336
http://www.esajournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1890/07-0550.1

Generously Supported By

A Conservation Partnership With

Earth Rangers is a non-profit organization that works to inspire and educate children about the environment. At EarthRangers.com kids can play games, discover amazing facts, meet animal ambassadors and fundraise to protect biodiversity.

See if you can come up with the best caption!

Post your ideas in the comment section below.

For even more fun, check out these other captions: squirrel, kangaroo, and frog

Earth Rangers is a non-profit organization that works to inspire and educate children about the environment. At EarthRangers.com kids can play games, discover amazing facts, meet animal ambassadors and fundraise to protect biodiversity.

My name is Elijah and I am nine years old. I like many things, especially swimming, but more than anything, I like nature. I’ve liked it since I was seven and I even went vegetarian for a while. I try super hard to be nature friendly. I thought maybe I could convince other people to be nature friendly too.

I created a website called Nature’s Pandemonium. It’s a place for kids to find campaigns and petitions, hilarious cartoons and eco tips from the experts. It’s been providing guidance for kids to help the environment or community for almost two years! I couldn’t have built the website without my dad, who showed me how the software works.

I decided to include a link to Earth Rangers on my website because I find they share their ecological knowledge in fun ways for kids. For example, their games are very fun yet still teaching kids about the environment. That will make kids want to learn more about the environment and maybe they will try and make their own website.

I believe everybody should respect animals. Just because they’re smaller than you doesn’t mean you can take advantage of them! That’s actually part of the reason I became a vegetarian.

My motto is, “Karma will pay you back for helping animals.”

We love hearing stories like Elijah’s. We think it’s important for people everywhere to take a page from Elijah’s book – get out there, take action and make a difference!

Earth Rangers is a non-profit organization that works to inspire and educate children about the environment. At EarthRangers.com kids can play games, discover amazing facts, meet animal ambassadors and fundraise to protect biodiversity.

I decided to post earth rangers because I find they share their ecological knowledge in fun ways for kids. For example, their games are very fun yet still teaching kids about the enviroment. That will make kids want to learn more about the enviroment. And maybe they will try and make their own website.

A model of a Narwhal. Flickr Credit: post-postmodern

Narwhals are medium sized whales that live in packs of two to ten individuals. They are best known for the massive ivory tusk, which can grow to 150 cm to 267 cm long! They also happen to be one of the most sensitive Arctic marine mammals to climate change.

The dramatic temperature swings caused by climate change not only lead to sea ice loss but also flash freezing. In some cases, a herd of narwhals will come up for air through tunnels in the ice, only to have the tunnels freeze shut behind them. The narwhals become stranded and are at a higher risk of being hunted by humans for their prized tusk.

Getting trapped in the ice isn’t the only issue narwhals face due to climate change. As the ice continues to melt, human presence increases. This means more hunting and development in the narwhal’s habitat, along with more boat activity as shipping and oil exploration increase.

Currently, narwhals are a species of special concern in Canada and near threatened internationally.

Sources:
http://www.sararegistry.gc.ca/virtual_sara/files/cosewic/sr_narwhal_e.pdf
http://www.arkive.org/narwhal/monodon-monoceros/
http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/13704/0

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A Conservation Partnership With

Earth Rangers is a non-profit organization that works to inspire and educate children about the environment. At EarthRangers.com kids can play games, discover amazing facts, meet animal ambassadors and fundraise to protect biodiversity.

Glacier

Glacier is a girl on a mission! She travelled the farthest, covering 2,541 km from September 15 to March 30.

Duchess

Duchess travelled the second farthest of our Polar bears. From September 18 to March 30, she covered 1,580 km.

Nanook

Nanook travelled 1,545 km from September 9 to Feb 11. We don’t know where she went after because her satellite collar stopped sending a signal. If Nanook’s collar was still transmitting, she would have been some serious competition for Glacier.

Snowflake

Like Nanook, Snowflake’s satellite collar also had some technical difficulties. Her collar started transmitting on September 14 but stopped after December 30; it briefly came back on, but then stopped again after March 6. In total, Snowflake travelled 1,113 km.

It’s fun to make it a competition, but this data is incredibly important in helping to save Polar bears. It shows scientists, like Dr. Lunn and his team, the Polar bears’ exact locations at specific times. Dr. Lunn can then compare this with the information from previous years to see if there is a difference in the Polar bears’ routes. This will help him understand if the loss of sea ice is impacting the Polar bears’ movement patterns.

The Earth Rangers Polar bears certainly covered a lot of distance during their trip around Hudson Bay, and they aren’t finished yet.

Check back in to see more updates about the Earth Rangers Polar bears later this year!

Generously Supported By

A Conservation Partnership With

Earth Rangers is a non-profit organization that works to inspire and educate children about the environment. At EarthRangers.com kids can play games, discover amazing facts, meet animal ambassadors and fundraise to protect biodiversity.

Africa

Asia

North America

South and Central America

Australia and the South Pacific

Europe and the Middle East

Earth Rangers is a non-profit organization that works to inspire and educate children about the environment. At EarthRangers.com kids can play games, discover amazing facts, meet animal ambassadors and fundraise to protect biodiversity.

1. There are over 4,700 species of frogs!

They are found on every continent except the Arctic.

2. Every year that a frog goes into hibernation, a new layer of bone forms.

You can count these rings to find out the frog’s age.

3. Many frogs can jump 20 times their own height.

Some can jump even higher!

4. Frogs come in all sorts of colours.

The colourful skin of many tropical frogs acts as a warning to predators that these frogs are poisonous.

This is the golden poison dart frog and it is considered to be one of the most poisonous animals on the planet.

5. The study of amphibians and reptiles is called Herpetology, and those who study them are called Herpetologists.

The name comes from the Greek word Herpeton which means “something that crawls”.

6. One of the ways you can tell a male frog from a female is by looking at their ears.

A frog’s ear is called tympanum and it is located just behind the eye. If the tympanum is larger than the frog’s eye, it is male; if it is smaller, it is female.

A female and male frog. Flickr Credit: rebonnett

7. Did you know that frogs moult? This is the process where they shed their skin.

Most frogs moult once a week but some will do it every day! Once the old skin has been pulled off, the frog usually eats it!

8. Croaking is used by male frogs as a way to attract females.

Each frog species has a distinct croak. They have vocal sacs, which fill with air, and can amplify the sound up to a mile away!

9. Frogs have teeth on their upper jaw, which they use to keep their prey in one place until they can swallow it.

Frogs swallow using their eyes; its eyes retract into its head and help push the food down its throat.

10. Frogs don’t drink water with their mouths; they “drink” by absorbing water through their skin.

Frogs have permeable skin, which means liquids and gases can pass through it. There is a bad side to having permeable skin, though. Frogs are at risk of absorbing whatever pollutions are in the water and air, and they can easily get dehydrated if they are away from water for too long.

Sources:
Michael E. Dorcas, Whit Gibbons (2011) Frogs: The Animal Answer Guide. JHU Press. Page 80
http://www.defenders.org/frogs/basic-facts
http://www.amnh.org/exhibitions/upcoming-exhibitions/frogs-a-chorus-of-colors/frog-fun-facts
http://blogs.smithsonianmag.com/science/2011/06/14-fun-facts-about-frogs/

Earth Rangers is a non-profit organization that works to inspire and educate children about the environment. At EarthRangers.com kids can play games, discover amazing facts, meet animal ambassadors and fundraise to protect biodiversity.

Start your Bring Back the Wild campaign to protect the
Oregon Spotted Frog

A Conservation Project With

Earth Rangers is a non-profit organization that works to inspire and educate children about the environment. At EarthRangers.com kids can play games, discover amazing facts, meet animal ambassadors and fundraise to protect biodiversity.