Today’s Eco Activity: Build a Marine Mammal

Today is World Oceans Day! Celebrate by designing and drawing your very own unique marine mammal!

All mammals—including marine mammals—have hair or fur, breathe air, are warm-blooded (or endothermic), and nurse their young. But the ocean habitat of marine mammals is extremely unique, and has resulted in some truly amazing adaptations in this group of animals. Marine mammals evolved from their land-dwelling ancestors over time by developing adaptations to survive and thrive in the ocean, including fins and/or flippers for swimming, blowholes or nostrils high on their head for breathing, and “rounder” bodies with blubber or very thick fur for keeping warm.

Scientists believe that “pinnipeds”, like the Patagonian Sea Lion, may have evolved from a bear-like creature 30 million years ago that became more adapted to life in the water. And by looking at a Patagonian Sea Lion and a modern-day grizzly bear, you can definitely see a family resemblance!

Your challenge is to create your own marine mammal!

1. Choose any mammal. Giraffe, squirrel, wolf, lemur, even your own housecat!
2. Imagine what it would look like if that species one day adapted to living in the ocean. What would it look like? How would get it around? Would it have flippers like a seal? Would it have a tail like a dolphin? How would it catch food? How would it stay warm?
3. Draw it and share it! Be creative!

Take a look at these examples, expertly imagined by Earth Ranger Chris’ family:

Share your amazing animal creations on social media by tagging Earth Rangers and #WorldOceansDay! Let’s see how many fun new marine mammals we can find breaching the waves of the internet!

Want to help protect ocean habitat and awesome animals like the Patagonian sea lion? You can jump head-first into the waters of a conservation initiative by accepting one of these Missions designed to help sustain aquatic animals everywhere. Take a look at Shoreline Saver and More Plastic More Problems! Accept these Missions to get a fin up on keeping amazing aquatic habitats healthy and clean!

The Earth Rangers App is where kids go to save animals! It’s free to join and you’ll have access to real-world Missions like this one. Plus, you can adopt an animal to support conservation projects, and learn all about animals in the Wild Wire Blog. Find activities like this, and so much more in the App!

Flick Off the Lights & Flick on a Film

Today is world Environment Day! Climate change is one of the environmental biggest threats facing our planet today, and one of the ways you can help fight against it is by cutting back on the amount of electricity you use. Climate change refers to the changes in our planet’s weather patterns over a long period of time. When we burn coal, oil or other fossil fuels to make things like electricity, we impact how quickly our climate is changing. That’s because fossil fuels release greenhouse gases when they’re burned, which then build up in the Earth’s atmosphere and cause the planet to warm faster than it has in the past. That’s why it’s so important that we save electricity!

How many times have you forgotten to turn off the lights when you leave a room? Or maybe you turn on all the lights when just one would be enough? These bad habits are real energy-wasters, and it’s time for you to take charge! It’s your duty to be on light patrol in your home and make sure everyone turns the lights off when they aren’t using them.

Curious about climate change? Looking for a Friday flick? We’ve got you covered! After you’ve dimmed the lights this evening, your family can stream this awesome new film, 2040! What better way to celebrate World Environment Day as a family?

Check out the trailer here.

Earth Rangers is proud to present this special online event, available to you and your family on demand! Plus, 20% of all downloads and rentals generated by clicking on this link will be donated to Earth Rangers, to go toward our awesome animal-saving protects!

Get the details here.

About 2040:

Award-winning director Damon Gameau (That Sugar Film) embarks on a journey to explore what the future could look like by the year 2040 if we simply embraced the best solutions already available to us to improve our planet and shifted them rapidly into the mainstream.

Structured as a visual letter to his 4-year-old daughter, Damon blends traditional documentary with dramatized sequences and high-end visual effects to create a vision board of how these solutions could regenerate the world for future generations.

For more information about 2040 and the #JoinTheRegeneration movement click here.

June 5th is World Environment Day! Thanks to our friends at Environment and Climate Change Canada, you can get this SPECIAL GIFT avatar item to celebrate your love for the environment right in the Earth Rangers App!

Environment and Climate Change Canada is working with partners to protect 25% of Canada’s lands, inland waters and oceans by 2025. People across the country are working hard to help conserve nature in their communities. You can see some new projects that are helping nature on their new online map launching today!

As Canada re-opens and Canadians seek out #OurNature more than ever, let’s take this opportunity to celebrate nature and remember the importance of protecting it for the future.

Thanks for doing your part for nature!

The Earth Rangers App is where kids go to save animals! It’s free to join and you’ll have access to real-world Missions like this one. Plus, you can adopt an animal to support conservation projects, and learn all about animals in the Wild Wire Blog. Find activities like this, and so much more in the App!

Venomous or Harmless? A Dangerous Game!

Are eastern milksnakes venomous? No, but they want you to think that they are! You see, eastern milksnakes are masters of disguise. Not only do they look a little like the venomous Massasauga rattlesnake, but they try to act like them too to trick predators into keeping their distance! Ssssssneaky!

When an eastern milksnake gets confronted by a potential predator, they put themselves in a strike position and vibrate their tail, just like a Massasauga rattlesnake would. Even though the eastern milksnake does not have a rattle, it can still make a very convincing rattling noise by striking dried leaves with its vibrating tail. This Massasauga rattlesnake mimicry is usually more than enough to make any potential predator think twice about bothering the eastern milksnake.

Now, the question is, can you tell the difference between an eastern milksnake and a Massasauga rattlesnake? Use the guide to learn how to tell the difference. When you think you know how to tell them apart, test you skills with our picture quiz above. Good luck!

You can help support important research to protect this unique species by purchasing an Eastern Milksnake Wildlife Adoption kit! 

Plushie adoption kits are only $40 and include this super friendly, larger-than-life snake plushie, a certificate and a poster, and when you make your purchase through the Earth Rangers App your child will also earn points to help them level up on their Earth Rangers journey—plus a set of virtual rewards they can show off!

Are Digital Adoption packages more your style? They’re only $10 and an Earth Rangers App exclusive! These include a virtual badge, a virtual animal to accompany your avatar on the home screen in the app, a cool avatar bonus item, and a virtual adoption certificate!

The Earth Rangers App is where kids go to save animals! It’s free to join and you’ll have access to real-world Missions like this one. Plus, you can adopt an animal to support conservation projects, and learn all about animals in the Wild Wire Blog. Find activities like this, and so much more in the App!

Shoreline Selfie: Before & After!

Monday June 8 is World Oceans Day and tomorrow marks the start of Canadian Environment Week, so we think there’s no better time than now to get out and clean up our local shorelines! Every year, hundreds of thousands of kilograms worth of garbage and fishing refuse are found washed up on the shores of Canada’s oceans, lakes, rivers, ponds and creeks, polluting important animal habitat.

There’s nothing fun about swimming with water bottles, finding candy wrappers in the sand or seeing a chip bag blow by as you’re out enjoying nature. While you can choose to leave a litter-filled area, the animals living on these shores can’t just walk or swim away. For them, garbage isn’t just ruining a trip to the beach or park, it’s ruining their homes. Animals can get caught in trash or they might think that it’s food and choke. Invasive species can even get attached to litter and float to new places. We can work together to trade in habitat-ruining junk piles for clean shoreline habitats and unpolluted water!

Take a #ShorelineSelfie at shore before you start cleaning, and another one when you’re done to show off your family’s hard work! Make sure you tag this page and #EarthRangers so we can see your team in shoreline-saving action! Nothing inspires others like seeing their friends and family taking part in protecting our planet and the animals we love.

The Earth Rangers App is where kids go to save animals! It’s free to join and you’ll have access to real-world Missions like this one. Plus, you can adopt an animal to support conservation projects, and learn all about animals in the Wild Wire Blog. Find activities like this, and so much more in the App!

Get the buzz on bee facts

Do you consider yourself to BEE an expert on pollinators? What about your favourite black and yellow super hero (no, not Batman), the Western Bumblebee? Once you’ve solved this sequence puzzle, you’ll get a secret code for the Earth Rangers App that you can redeem for a prize fit for a Queen (or King) Bee!!

Your task in this puzzle is to bring the different live stages of a bee into the correct order!

Download the activity here, cut out the 4 circles at the bottom and paste them in the proper spot. Check out this article to get your clues.

The Earth Rangers App is where kids go to save animals! It’s free to join and you’ll have access to real-world Missions like this one. Plus, you can adopt an animal to support conservation projects, and learn all about animals in the Wild Wire Blog. Find activities like this, and so much more in the App!