Mad Science

How Much Does Wonder Cost?

2010-06-18T13:05:00.005+03:00

A very happy swimmer on a recent field trip.

Imagine a few things with me, please.

Imagine you have never seen a deer or any wild animal bigger than a bird. Imagine you have never even seen a forest. Imagine you have never eaten at a restaurant, not even a McDonald's. And you certainly have never stayed the night at a hotel.

The 3rd, 4th and 5th grades up a tree.

Hard to imagine isn't. But not if you are a child living at the Akany Avoko children's home in Madagascar. Most have lived a life that would make you very sad or even frighten you. Some were hurt by their families. Some were so poor they were lucky to eat just one meal a day. Some had no families or homes at all and lived on the street under bridges and behind dumpsters. Some were sick and nearly dead before they came to the home. And almost all of them were not able to go to school.

They had hard lives. Sad lives.

Cool. Even Miss Frizzle's bus didn't have flames.

Now they have better lives. Akany Avoko has given them a safe and loving home with food, warmth and even school. But this is where you came in; you gave them more.

Thanks to very generous donations from caring individuals and from some hardworking classes and kids at Community Park and Litltlebrook Elementary schools in Princeton, NJ, the 3rd, 4th and 5th graders at Akany Avoko have been given some wonderful field trip opportunities.

And wonderful is the exact right word to use. You have given them the gift of wonder. Wonder at the sight of a sea of green trees. Wonder at the sound of a lemur calling far in the forest. Wonder at the touch of rich moist rainforest air on their skin. Wonder at swimming in cool clean wild water. It is difficult for them or me describe what this wonder means.

Nine out 10 trees have been cut down in Madagascar.

That's why all but two of the kids had never seen a forest.

But they thanked you with every smile and there sure were a whole lot of smiles. Even the bus rides to the field trips were big deals. The trips your loving donations payed for provided an escape from lives that very much need an occasional escape or fairy tale.

A nice big lunch...and she didn't waste a bite of it.

Fruit bigger than your head. Jack fruit to be exact.

A nice big spread for supper too. And as always, lots of rice.

Eat all that rice and you may have to take a break after lunch.

Now they don't have to imagine eating at a restaurant, staying at a hotel, walking through a lush forest or the sight of lemurs leaping from limb to limb. They don't have to imagine anymore.

You have done a good thing for some very good kids. From the bottom of my terribly-moved heart, I thank you. And the kids? The smiles in the photos show how incredibly thankful they are.

A hotel was quite a nice treat.

Swimming is always the biggest smile-enducing hit.

Virtual Field Trip: Zoo in Tana [Part 1]

2010-04-19T22:00:00.005+03:00

[Lemurs behind bars. No this isn't lemur jail; this is the zoo. Thanks to some very generous donations I was able to take the 3rd, 4th and 5th graders from Akany Avoko children's home on a field trip to national zoo in Antananarivo, Madagascar. It's close to us but probably a bit of a haul for your class (unless your teacher is Ms. Frizzle). Don't worry though. Read on and join us for a virtual field trip instead.]

Right. Every one off the bus and line up at the gate. Anyone have to pee? I'm not stopping later, so unless you want to spend the field trip bouncing around and walking funny, go now.

Timmy! Stop that!

"But you said go now."

Ok, Timmy gets an F for the field trip, but the rest of you still got a shot at an A. Let's head out.

Any questions first?

"Can we see the bears?"

No. There are no bears.

"Can we see the lions?"

No. There are no lions.

"Can we see the hippopotamuseseseses?"

No. There are no hippos.

Yes, Becky?

"Mr. Lebo, are you sure we're at the zoo?"

Notice all the cages and souvenirs? Yes, we are most certainly at the zoo, but this zoo only has animals from Madagascar and there are no bears, lions or hippos here. And Becky?

"Yes, Mr. Lebo?"

You get an F for the field trip now too.

"But I...I just asked a quest--"

Don't push it. One more word and you'll get a G instead.

"But I don't think there even is such a thing as a G?"

"Okay, a G minus then. Any more questions?"

This zoo is a marvelous place. Dozens and dozens of wonderful animals that can only be found here on the Great Red Island of Madagascar. Hundreds of out-of-this-world endemic plants with amazing adaptations to survive harsh and special climates.

All outstanding things you may even get a chance to see after you stand here and listen to me yak on and on about lemurs for while.

"But we've already listened to you yak on and on about lemurs before."

What did you say Becky?

"Uh...I said, 'But we have already had the wonderful opportunity to listen your incredible and amazing facts about lemurs'."

So you already know they aren't monkeys?

"Yes."

You already know they are the oldest primates in the world?

"Yes. They are our great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-grandparents."

Excellent. But I think you missed a great.

But there is one thing new to learn. How they got to Madagascar in the first place.

"Fine, but we can see some actual lemurs after you're done talking?"

Certainly. But Becky?

"Yes?"

You now have an H.

Here we go. Raise your hands. How do you think Lemurs got to Madagascar? Bobby?

"They swam."

Nope. Lemurs can't swim. So-Ling?

"When my mom wants to go somewhere, she uses her frequent flyer miles."

Is your mom a lemur?

"No."

That's right, because lemurs can't fly.

Alright, we'll come back to how they got here in a bit. First, let's figure out how here got here.

Madagascar is the oldest island in the world. But it is not as old as the Earth. Take a look at this globe I just happen to have in my pocket. See all the lovely continents?

"Yes."

Well those big hunks of rock and dirt are a lot like Willy.

"They're allergic to peanut butter and don't comb their hair?"

No, they can't sit still.

"Oh."

And, by the way, has anyone seem Willy lately?

"He said he was going to go pet the crocodiles."

Fine, now back to the continents. The continents and plates of the crust are floating on top of molten rock that boils up and pushes them around. Sometimes they get pushed apart and sometimes they get smooshed together into supercontinents.

"Ooh! Does that mean they can fly?"

Not that kind of super. Two-hundred and fifty million years ago when crocodiles like the ones that are now digesting Willy first showed up, there was one big supercontinent called Pangea. Madagascar was just a hunk of land in the middle; it was not an island. And even about 100 million years later or so when Africa broke free it wasn't an island either, because Madagascar was still holding on to India.

"Did it like curry? I like curry."

Do you also like failing grades, Ben? Madagascar, the island, was finally born about 70 million years ago when it kissed India goodbye and set off on its own. It wasn't completely on its own though. There were all kinds of plants and animals living on it, but something was missing. There were no lemurs anywhere. The lemurs were left behind back in India and Africa and other places too.

"Mr. Lebo is this story ever going to end?"

In a bit, Becky. And congratulations you are now the first student in elementary school history to earn a J.

So, we are still left with our first question. How did lemurs ever end up on Madagascar in the first place?

Grab a map, turn your brains on and come up with some ideas. In the meantime, I'm going to go check on Ben. I hope the crocodile isn't choking on him.

I really like crocodiles.

[Note to students and teachers who just endured part 1 of the virtual field trip to the zoo: Give the challenge a whirl and send me your ideas about how lemurs came to Madagascar. Try and use your brain and not Google. Give it a shot. Get it wrong. Who cares? Just leave a comment with your best thoughts. Next week we will finish the virtual field trip and find out the real answer. We will also find out how low Becky's grade can actually get.]

Akany Avoko children enjoying the non-virtual tortoise during their non-virtual field trip to the zoo. There used to be thousands of these on the island (tortoises, not Akany Avoko children), but now they are extinct. This one is a similar species from a neighboring island group.

These are the most popular animals at the zoo. Lemurs aren't such a big deal when you grow up in Madagascar, but camels sure are. These were actually gifts from the leader of Libya in northern Africa.

The lucky and grateful kids. Thank you so much to the all the wonderful donors who helped raise money for this and future field trips.

More Fun than You Can Shake a Really Long Black and White Striped Tail At

2010-03-28T21:52:00.003+03:00

Some animals just get all the attention. And in Madagascar, this is the animal that has stolen the show. Everyone wants to see ring-tailed lemurs. Hundreds or different frogs. More chameleons than any place on earth. Insects that look like aliens designed them. Thousands of strange and wonderful plants. But no, everyone wants to see King Julian and his ring-tailed buddies.

Well, fine. Here you go. I finally got to see some of these attention hogs on a recent trip south. Enjoy the cute pics, But I am going to force you to learn a bit as you go. I am a science teacher after all.

Ring-Tailed Lemur Fact #1:

There is no King Julian. There may be a Queen Julia though. Almost all mammals (furry, milk-drinking, not-hatched-from-an-egg animals) have kings or they just get along fine with no one in charge. But hyenas and ring-tailed lemurs kicked the kings out and have queens instead. A female runs the lemur troop. That's why a group of lemurs is called a matriarchy.

Ring-Tailed Lemur Fact #2:

Ring-Tails are talkative little lemurs. They are a teacher's nightmare; they never stop yapping. They have calls for everything. They moan, click, purr. They talk to each other to keep the group together as they bound and walk through the forest in search of food. And the yell to let everyone know a lemur-eatin' foe is nearby. Click here to listen to some samples.

Ring-Tailed Lemur Fact #3:

Though they still love the trees as much as the next lemur, Ring-tailed lemurs do spend more time on the ground than any other Malagasy prosimian (lemur).

Ring-Tailed Lemur Fact #4:

Madagascar is in the tropics, but that doesn't mean it's nice and warm all the time. Nights can be chilly. That is why ring-tails like to plop down and face the sun in the morning for a good ol' tanning session. They face the sun and expose their thinly-furred belly to the warm sunshine. And if the night is particularly nippy, the lemurs huddle together to form a big toasty lemur ball. Now how cute is that?

Ring-Tailed Lemur Fact #5:

Being a boy lemur can really stink. That's not exactly right. Let me try that again. Boy lemurs can really stink. There, that's better. Both boys and girls have scent glands they use to mark their troop's territory, but the boys also use their foul cologne to fight. Stink fight to be precise. They rub their stink on their tails and then duel it out to be king. (Ok, not king. We already learned that isn't true in the first fact.) And when it comes time to mate and make baby lemurs, the boys use their stinky tails to attract the girls. I guess lemurs don't care for flowers and chocolate.

Ring-Tailed Lemur Fact #6:

Lemurs are not endangered, but they are classified as Near Threatened which means they are on their way to endangered if they aren't protected. And actually it isn't the lemurs that need protecting; it is their forests. Farming, grazing, mining, you name it. It is destroying the trees of Madagascar. Nine out every ten trees have been cut down. And since Madagascar is a very poor country, people do what they can for food and money. That means that sometimes people eat lemurs or capture them and sell them as pets. But the Malagasy government and many environmental groups are doing their best to make sure Ring-tail lemurs always have a home.

Malagasy Money

2010-03-15T05:30:00.001+03:00

Malagasy money usually has more dirt on it than a 4 year old boy.

When it is clean, crisp and new, it is quite nice. This is a 100 ariary bill. It is like a US $100 except a US $100 bill can buy a lot and a 100 ariary bill can't. It is actually the smallest bill. Everything smaller is only in coins. That means instead of a $20 bill there is a $20 coin.

This is the largest bill, the 10,000 ariary note. It is worth about US $5. It isn't the biggest bill in the world. There is even a US $10,000 bill. But nothing beats the $100,000,000,000,000 bill from Zimbabwe. I am not making this up.

The 10,000 ariary bill is also special, because it is probably the only money in the world that features a dump truck and commemorates road construction.

Here is a 10 ariary coin. Let's compare it to a US $10 bill. How many cents or pennies are in a US $10 bill? I'll give you a second...right, 1,000. Now how many iraimbilanja (Malagasy pennies) are in a 10 ariary coin? 1,000. Nope. Try 50.

Almost every where currency is a dollar (1) and cents (100 parts of that 1) thing. There are only two countries in the entire world that do not break down their money into decimals. Mauritania and Madagascar. The base unit of Malagasy currency, the ariary, can be divided not into 100 equal sub units, but only 5. Each sub unit is called a iraimbilanja.

But in reality, that 10 ariary coin is worth about nothing. Or rather, it can buy about nothing. Even a small piece of hard candy usually costs 20 ariary. A lot of stores just ignore anything less than 100 ariary when it comes to making change. In over a year in Madagascar, I think I have used a coin or coins only twice to buy something. The economy runs on dirty bills not clunky coins.

Between a Rock and a Hard Science

2010-03-11T04:31:00.004+03:00

I am heading out to do some real science, some real and fun science. For the next 3 weeks, I will be out and about on the granite rocks of south central Madagascar. My wife and her fellow scientists will collecting and study the amazing endemic plants that grow only these amazing rock outcroppings. I will tagging along with my climbing gear to help collect the hard-to-reach plants on the steep bits.

Since we will be traveling to different locations every few days, I may not be able to post or respond to your comments normally. Please be patient and the blog will be back to normal in a few weeks when we get back.

Then you can learn all about the tremendously cool plants we find.

Virtual Field Trip: Croc Farm

2010-03-08T00:07:00.011+03:00

When taking kids on a field trip, it is always best to do a head count. But since I took the 3rd, 4th and 5th graders from Akany Avoko to a crocodile farm, I thought it best to be thorough and do hand, finger, foot and toe counts too. And when all was said and done, we were all accounted for down to the very last toe.

And what did the excited Malagasy students learn at the crocodile farm? Well, why don't you tag along for a virtual field trip and find out?

Right, welcome to the Croc Farm. Make sure to stick with your buddy and no sharing your sandwich with the man-eating reptiles. Last chance, anyone need to tinkle? Good, let's get started.

Crocodiles are pointy-toothed time machines. That doesn't mean you can crawl inside one and zap yourself to the future. In fact, I would advise you to never crawl inside a crocodile. (Except for perhaps you, William.) Crocodiles are like a time machine, because when you look at one you are looking backwards 200 million years!

Dinosaurs saw the same kind of crocodiles that you see. That is because crocodiles are nearly perfect reptiles. Unlike Sally's spelling, there really isn't much room for improvement. They pretty much stay the same.

Most animals and plants change over time as certain genetic mutations and features work out better than the ones their parents and grandparents had. The new slightly different animals or plants do well and have lots of babies. Do that for millions of years and things can really change. But crocodiles don't really change anymore. They made all the right adaptations a long time ago.

Yes, Timmy?

"What are some of those adaptations that make them so perfect?"

Excellent question, but please take your finger out of your nose while I answer it. Thanks.

Well, for one thing check out that long, strong tail. That puppy is chock full of muscles. It can use it to gently swim through the water or ambush a poor defenseless bird that was just trying to have a little drink. Poor bird.

Their fat webbed feet aren't used for paddling. They are used to steer and to support their body as they walk, run and even hop on land. No small feat considering a large crocodile can weigh as much as a car.

They don't hunt down their food. They use their excellent camouflage (and patience) to wait for food to come just a bit too close before they ambush it and bite down with their world famous jaws.

A crocodile can really bite. I know Ruby, your little sister can really bite too, but she is nothing compared to a crocodile. Their bite is 5,000 pounds per square inch. Yeah, what does that mean. I get it. Well, let's compare it to another toothsome foe, the great white shark. That seal-eating super fish can only chomp down with a measly 400 pounds per square inch.

But with all those big muscles used to bite down, there aren't many left over to open the mouth back up, so a crocodile is a bit of a weakling too. Even you could hold a crocodile's mouth shut, Pete (even though you don't seem to be able to keep your own shut for more than two seconds).

Now let's shuffle over to the next pond.

Crocodiles are cold-blooded; just like math teachers. Just kidding, Mr. Weedle. Thanks for coming today and please put down that rock. Right, you are able to eat delicious food (or the food they serve in the cafeteria) and turn that food into energy and heat. That means you are warm-blooded. You pretty much stay at 37.5 degrees Celsius. Cold-blooded animals can't really warm themselves up. They have to get some help from the sun. Their blood can get hot and cold and it doesn't really hurt them.

Crocodiles can't sweat to cool off like you. So when they get a bit past toasty, they open up their mouths to cool off like a dog. They can take a swim to cool off too. To warm up, they drag their big bellies up onto a nice beach to catch some rays and maybe eat a wildebeest.

In Madagascar, there are some special crocodiles that have learned--eyes on me, Lester--to love the cold. They are the only crocodiles in the world that live in caves. Caves are cold. That means the crocodiles are cold. And when a cold-blooded animal gets cold, they get slow. And in the Madagascar cave crocodiles' case--sorry, head up and eyes on me, Lester--they get so cold they can't even eat. They have to get out into the sun to warm up enough to have a meal. It's not too much of a hassle though. Some of them only eat once a year. And during certain times of the--right, that's it! Mr. Weedle, would you kindly pick up Lester and feed him to the crocodiles?

Thank you.

Yes, Becky?

"Why does Lester get to play with the crocodiles and the rest of us don't?"

Because I like him best. Now let's move on.

Take a close look at the crocodile skin. It may look old, rough and clunky, but it's really top-of-the-line high-tech stuff. It has special receptors that allow it to feel even the tiniest movement in the water. And the scales are so tough and protective that some tribes in Africa even used the skin as shields. A crocodile's armored outer shell even helps on chilly mornings. There are thousands and thousands of small capillaries running with blood just beneath the thick bits. The scales absorb the sun's heat and transfer it to the blood. Nifty, no?

Simon?

"This is getting boring?"

Simon, you're getting an F for today, but you don't see me complaining do you?

Fine, I'll shut my trap about the wonderful world of crocodiles and we'll see what else the Croc Farm has to offer.

"Mr. Lebo, the ostrich looks angry."

Oh, it's probably just upset, because it can't fly. Or that it's so far from home. Ostriches never lived in Madagascar. They did have elephant birds though and they were almost twice as tall.

Here, you can see two very special turtles who appear to be in love or involved in some sort of turtle car accident. The little one in the midst of being run over is a radiated tortoise. One of them lived to be 188 years old making it the oldest known living animal. And the big one doing the running over is a Seychelles giant tortoise and it is one of the largest tortoises in the world. Madagascar used to be crawling with similar giant tortoises, but they became extinct shortly after people arrived about 2,500 years ago.

"Mr. Lebo, why would people be so mean to big lovable turtles?"

I don't know. Maybe because they asked too many questions.

Alright, that's it for blabbing. It's time for some fun. Take off your shoes and you can each have eleven seconds to enjoy the bounce and wonder of the trampoline...................... ...................................Excellent, fun is over.

"But you said we could have ice cream?"

I also said you wouldn't have homework this weekend. Do you believe everything I say?

Oh, for goodness sakes, stop crying or you can all go help Lester wrestle the crocodile.

"I almost got her, Mr. Lebo! Ouch. I think she's getting tired. Ow! Pointy teeth. So many pointy teeth. Ow!"

Good work, Lester. Now, while the crocodile finishes her snack, we can all go have some ice cream...if it will keep you from whining.

"Thank you, Mr. Lebo!"

Yeah, yeah.

Ok, it's the real Mr. Lebo here. Not the mean one from the virtual field trip we just took. I just want to let you know that the real thanks don't go to me. They go to Mrs. Schwimmer in Princeton, NJ for being ever so kind and loving by donating her own birthday money to help send the kids from Akany Avoko on a wonderful, wonderful field trip to the quite real Croc Farm. And, yes, we did get ice cream on the way home. And, no, none of the kids spilled it all over their nice clean shirts. I was the only one to do that.

If you are interested in sending the kids of Akany Avoko children's home on another cool field trip, please email me at chad_lebo@monet.prs.k12.nj.us to find out how.

The Other Side

2010-03-03T00:10:00.008+03:00

Life for most kids in America means clean clothes to put on in the morning, a free school they can go to, three good meals a day and plenty of safe water to drink. Life for most kids in Madagascar is very different.

They may only have one or two sets of clothing. There are not many schools to even go to. And even if there is a school the books and uniforms are not and that is money their family does not have. They work as farmers and animal herders. They do not have electricity. They eat rice or boiled roots two times a day, three if they are lucky. The water they drink and wash in does not come from a clean sink. It comes from dirty soiled rivers and wells. There are very few doctors to help them if they are sick. There are not many toys to play with besides stones, old tires, plastic grocery bags and beat-up homemade toys trucks. Even if they could get books, most cannot read. Or do math. Because they do not get enough calories, vitamins or minerals, they are shorter and skinnier than most of the kids their age in the world.

It is not a life you know. It is not a life I knew. But it is most certainly the life they know. And most bear it with dignity. They do not complain or whine. It is even possible to find smiles on the faces of the children near me who live behind dumpsters and spend their days picking through the trash to find scraps they can eat or empty bottles they can sell.

This is not an easy problem to solve, but it should most certainly not be ignored. Talk to your families and your teachers and ask about some ways that you or you class may be able to remember or help those that the world and fortune have forgotten.

[Students and Teachers: If you are interested in helping the children of Madagascar, please email me at chad_lebo@monet.prs.k12.nj.us about the opportunities to help kids at the children's home where I work, Akany Avoko.]

All of the photos on this post were taken by last weekend in the small town of Ibity, Madagascar. When looking at these photos, keep this in mind: compared to most of the country, this village is not a poor one. It has a primary school, a local cement factory and good farmland.

No Small Feet...(Correction) Lots of Small Feet

2010-02-23T22:21:00.005+03:00

How do you tell the difference between a millipede and a centipede?

Look in their closets and count their shoes.

Well, not exactly. Firstly, neither of them actually wear shoes (it would be too expensive). And secondly, counting just the number of feet won't help much. Despite their names, centipedes do not have 100 legs and millipedes do not have 1,000 legs. Even the leggiest millipede, Illacme plenipes, has at the most 750 legs. It's only about an inch long though, so it is still quite impressive.

If you aren't freaked out by tiny feet and creepy crawlies, the best way to tell the two apart is to hold one close and count how many legs are attached to each body segment. Centipedes have one pair of legs for each segment; millipedes have two pairs. Just look somewhere along the middle or back end, because the first few segments of a millipede only have one pair each.

If you are a bit squeamish and would rather not get your dainty fingers dirty, just watch how it moves. Centipedes are quick darty little buggers. Millipedes are slow. And for good reasons.

Millipedes are detritivores. They like to gently munch on dead leaves and such. Centipedes are vicious killers. They come out at night and speed after tiny prey. Or not so tiny. Some centipedes, with the help of a poisonous bite, have been known to eat reptiles, bats and even birds.

Both like dark places, so get out and about and flip over a log or stone or two. See who is lurking underneath. And if you use your highly honed science skills, you can tell what kind of pede you got--centi or milli.

This is one of the several species of giant millipedes found in Madagascar. I found this leggy fellow on a rock near Ibity. (Yes, I know my hands are dirty. I'm a science teacher and a carpenter. It's hard to keep them clean.)

When you live in the dark, whopping big antenna can be quite handy for "seeing" around.

Proof of two things. One, this is indeed a giant millipede. Two, I'm not the only one who likes creepy crawlies; that is my wife's arm.

Hey, Did that Stick Just Blink?

2010-02-19T07:19:00.004+03:00

The wily, not to mention barky, leaf-tailed gecko.

There is good camouflage and then there is this fellow--the leaf-tailed gecko. I practically had to touch my eye my right up against her eye before I was even sure she had an eye. And this one wasn't even on a tree with bark. It was on a larger ginger plant, but it still blended completely in to look like just some part of the plant.

If I was a fly, I would have been smacked by her tongue and scarfed up as a tasty snack for sure.

Proof. This is no hunk of bark. There are indeed eyeballs. Not to mention a big grinning mouth.

Check out the leafy eyelashes. That's attention to details.

The gray bit on the left is the tail and the rest are legs, feet and probably the world's weirdest toes.

Here's a little comparison. On the left is the bark of a nearby tree. Notice that the gecko's disguise even includes white spots to mimic fungus and mites. Crazy.

Here's Lookin' at You Kid...and You...and You...and You...

2010-02-09T22:27:00.005+03:00

Look around all you want. You'd have a tough time finding a better set of eyes than a praying mantis. Correction, better sets of eyes. A praying mantis like this one from Andasibe, Madagascar, has more eyes than you can shake an optometrist at.

Like all insects, they have a pair of compound eyes. Those are the big bulgy ones you can see in the photo. Those black dots in the middle are not pupils. It's just an optical illusion. They don't have pupils or eyelids. Each one of those compound eyes is made of hundreds of little eyes, or lens.

But that is not what makes them such good lookers. They also have three simple eyes that can sense light and dark arranged in a triangle between their long antennae. Of course, most insects have simple eyes, so that's not so special either.

Here are the special bits.

A praying mantis is one of the few insects with stereoscopic vision. That's a fancy way of saying they can see things from two different angles like we do and pinpoint exactly how far away a tasty gnat may be buzzing.

"Hey, if we have stereoscopic vision too, why are praying mantises so special?"

Well, can you look straight ahead and read a book that's behind your left shoulder? A praying mantis can...as long as you teach it how to read first. They can see 300 degrees without even turning their heads.

But turn their heads they can. They are one of the few animals in the world that can turn their heads around and look straight behind them without moving their bodies.

Add that to all their eyes and the stereoscopic vision and you have yourself one fine little predator. Mosquitoes and flies don't stand a chance if they are unlucky enough to land nearby.

But it is not just annoying insect pests that get served up for mantis lunches. Large tropical praying mantises have been known to eat small lizards, birds, rodents and even snakes.

Let's hope they don't get any bigger.

The Lesser of Two Weevils

2010-02-08T21:55:00.007+03:00

You do not look the same as a boy. Unless of course you are a boy. In that case, you do not look like a girl.

That is not always true. Yesterday we learned that those common, but still cute, brown lemurs look alike. Boy and girl brown lemurs are about the same size, weight and color.

But that is a funny thing in the animal world, because most boys and girls look different. In science-speak, that's called dimorphism (try using that in the dinner table conversation tonight).

For humans, males are usually taller. Woman usually have narrower shoulders. And think of birds. Most male birds go around bragging and boasting their colorful plumage while the females get stuck with the dull end of the feather. Those stunning red cardinals flitting around the feeders right now are all boys. The gray brownish birds looking jealous nearby are the females.

But it's not just us and the birds. Even insects get into the act. Insects have boys and girls too and most of them are different from each other. Sometimes it can be hard to tell, but not with these two lovely weevils.

There are weevils weeviling around the United States and Europe and Asia and all over the world, but none like these two. These are giraffe weevils, Trachelophorus giraffe, and they can only be found in Madagascar. In science-speak, that would make them endemic to Madagascar.

The first two pics show a male giraffe weevil and his long neck that bends like a crane. His neck can be 2-3 times longer than the neck of a female like the one in the last two pics. That long neck isn't used for fighting or for changing hard to reach lightbulbs though.

The lanky head-holder helps him build a nest by rolling up a leaf and fixing it into a tube. If the shorter necked female likes his handy work, she lays a single egg in the nest and in a few weeks a baby giraffe weevil pops out--presumably head first.

The hungry little weevil larva doesn't have to look to hard to find food. That leaf fort that Dad built is not only warm and safe; it's also tasty. In fact, it's usually a leaf from the giraffe weevil's favorite tree...the giraffe weevil tree.

Coincidence?

Boring Name but Cute Nonetheless

2010-02-07T23:05:00.005+03:00

Allow me to introduce the common brown lemur. And since we have talked about lemurs before let me skip the old stuff and just mention what makes these "common" primates uncommon.

Well, for one thing they all look alike. The males and females look and weigh pretty much the same. That is rare for lemurs or any primate for that matter.

These are no night lemurs. They spend their days scouring the trees for food. But sometimes they do stay up late and hunt around in the night too especially when the moon is full. (Vampire lemurs perhaps?)

And what do they eat? Mostly fruit, but they won't turn down a tasty cicada or millipede if their 5-fingered hands find some (Oh come on, like you've never wanted to eat a millipede). They even nibble on dirt occasionally to get some extra minerals.

A lot of the plants the eat are full of nasty toxic chemicals that would kill many other animals. But common brown lemurs, and some other lemurs, have evolved to be able to handle all the poisons. That means they can eat the juicy leaves that others animals have to leave behind. Smart, eh?

There are not a lot of these medium-sized lemurs flying about the treetops, so they are considered near threatened. Their families have about 9-12 members, but no one seems to be in charge (try that with a human family of 9-12 and see what happens). And their families don't grow very fast. A mature female will only have one baby a year. There have been a few cases of twins too.

All these photos are from a wonderful little weekend away my wife and I just spent near Andasibe. We were lucky enough to lots of wonderful creatures besides these lemurs. I will put up a new post each day this week to show you everything from spiders to geckos.

Come back tomorrow and see whose next.

I Can't See the Forest for the…Hey, What Happened to the Trees?

2010-02-01T03:23:00.008+03:00

The once tree-covered highlands around Ankafobe.

Madagascar is a weird and wonderful world of amazing plants and animals. Huge forests with towering trees and jumping lemurs. Giraffe-sized giant birds and tortoises as big as school desks roam around the hills. It is a paradise of life found nowhere else on earth.

Or at least that was true 2,500 years ago. But ever since pesky humans showed up, paradise has slowly been disappearing. Now there are very few forests or even trees for that matter. About 90% of the lush life-giving rain forests are gone. Those big birds and lumbering tortoises are extinct and so are many of the lemurs, fish, reptiles and other unique beasties that used to call the Red Island home.

There are still little bits of this once wild wonderland, but many of those bits are in trouble too. People cut down trees for houses and cooking fires they need to survive. And some people come and cut down the oldest and most beautiful trees like Rosewood to sell for lots of money. And if a tree survives the axes and chainsaws, it may not be safe yet. Fires rage around the country in many places.

Farmers burn trees and brush to make new fields for rice, beans and manioc. But fire can quite quickly get out of control and burn much more that just one or two soon-to-be fields. And without trees, the hard rains that pour down on the island for half the year can quickly wash away the good soil that used to be protected by the trees' sheltering canopy and thick roots.

This all means that it is very important to protect what forests still survive. Missouri Botanical Garden (MBG) is one of the groups trying to protect those survivors. And my wife, Dr. Cindy, is one of the scientists helping them.

These photos are from one tiny but special patch of forest that MBG is saving. It is only a fragment of what the forest used to be. But they are working hard to save what trees are left and plant new trees to make the forest bigger.

Does saving one little patch of trees make a difference? Well, just ask a Schizolaena bush.

"Hey, where in the world am I supposed to find a talking Schizolaena bush to ask?"

Well, to be honest, nowhere. Bushes don't talk. But if you want to find a non-talking Schizolaena bush, you will have to come to Madagascar. But not just anywhere in Madagascar. You have to come to a forest. And not just any forest. You will have to come to Ankafobe, this forest fragment that MBG is fighting to save. Every Schizolaena bush in the world lives in this one tiny forest. Only 100 bushes in a forest no bigger than 50 soccer fields.

That is what is called endangered. But then again, that's better than being called extinct.

One of the only 100 Schizolaena bushes in the world.

Awesome butterfly or awesome moth? Check the wings. Wings flat: moth. Wings up: butterfly. That means it's an awesome moth. Not all moths love the nighttime.

Ah, an old favorite...the eyeball leech. I did find it latched onto my hand, but it didn't even get near my peepers.

Replanting a forest takes a lot of trees. And all trees start as seeds. Local villagers run this MBG nursery that produced over 6000 saplings last year.

Saving a forest is more than just putting up keep out signs and planting a few trees. Local people have to have some way of making a living if they can't cut down the trees for money. Here is one wonderful way that MBG helps. This is a fish farm that produces fish that can be sold at nearby markets. It takes up less space than other forms of farming. It produces more money. It also generates compost that can be used for plants and vegetables. Sadly, a large rain the week before broke the damn and most of the fish were washed down into the surrounding rice paddies.

The See-Through Alien in Our Kitchen

2010-01-25T19:22:00.008+03:00

Geckos are more than just cute insurance salesmen. They are amazing little lizardy beasties. They ring the world and live where ever there is a nice toasty climate. That's why you don't find any back in New Jersey, but I do find a lot here in Madagascar. And not only do I find the lizards in our house, at work, in the forest, almost every one I find lives only here on the lovely Red Island. About 92% of the reptiles here live here and only here. (That's nothing. A whopping 99% of the frogs are endemic.)

Check out some pics of a few geckos we've seen so far. If you are reading this with your class, please ask your students to raise their hand each time they hear something they didn't know before.

This little gecko and a few of his friends live around our house. This species seems to like the dark. But that's ok, because geckos' eyes are much better at seeing when the lights are out. And we love having them as house guests, because they eat the mosquitos that buzz around at night. They might see better than us, but we got them beat when it comes to eyelids. We have them; they don't. That means we blink when we need to keep our eyeballs nice and sparkly and moist. When they want to clean their peepers, they have to lick them. Watch the gecko in the Geico commercials. He usually licks his eyeballs once or twice.

This is the most famous of the Malagasy geckos: the day gecko. It is also one of the largest day geckos in the world. And, in case you haven't figured it out, a day gecko is not nocturnal. They spend their days hunting down insects, grubs, worms, etc.

Those fabulous feet. A gecko could make Spiderman jealous. Geckos can pretty much walk up, across or upside down on about anything they want. Maybe Geckoman vs Spiderman could be the next big comic? Spiderman could probably sneak in a punch or two when Geckoman was licking his eyeballs though.

Though this one wasn't blending into our bungalow very well, nocturnal geckos are masters of disguise. They can blend in with the best of them. Which is good for them and bad for their prey and predators. They cannot change color like chameleons though. But in case a predator does find them, they do have a few tricks up their sleeves. They can drop their tail and have it dance around and distract the would-be diner as they scurry away. They can also shoot out a stinky smell and even poo if the tail trick doesn't work. Yikes.

A see-through gecko friend in our kitchen. Though we didn't here a peep out of this little girl, we could have. Gecko's are the only lizards in the world that can make a sound other than "hissssss." They can bark and chirp for goodness sake.

[Photo by Bjorn Christian Torrissen]

My what hairy feet you have grandmother! A gecko may not look hairy, but its feet surely are. Each square millimeter (about the size of a big grain of sand) has over 14,000 hairlike things called setae. It takes about 20 or so of these setae to be as thick as a hair from your head. And the hair doesn't end there. At the tip of each of the setae are as many 1,000 even tinier hairs called seta. That means a grand total of about 14 million sticky hairs on each sand-grain-sized speck of foot. No wonder they can walk upside down on glass. NASA loves to study gecko feet to see if they can come up with a way for astronauts to walk on the outside of spaceships and space stations the same way.

This Little Piggy...

2010-01-17T19:49:00.009+03:00

...went to market,
This little piggy went home,
This little piggy had roast beef,
This little piggy had none,
This little piggy had a tungiasis infestation from a burrowed sand flea
and went "Wee, wee, wee" all the way home.

On the recent trip back stateside, my old students had lots of great questions about the people, places and customs of wild Madagascar...but mostly they just wanted to know about the creatures that had hatched out of my toe. Sadly, I didn't know exactly what they were. I know, what kind of science teacher am I anyway? Well, I can now proudly say that my little piggies had none other than sand fleas.

The flea in question: the sand flea.

[Photo taken from http://www.healthinplainenglish.com/health/infectious_diseases/tungiasis/index.htm]

I say piggies and not piggy, because just one day after I saw my students I awoke to a second lovely hatching. A little natural miracle right there under my right pointer toe. I thought I had a bit of black lint stuck under my toenail, but alas it was no bit of dress sock. It was Tunga penetrans aka chigoe flea, jigger, foot bug, sand flea or pico.

No matter what you call it, it is a parasite. They like to live in warm sandy soil like beaches. The mommy fleas like to attach themselves to a nice warm-blooded host like a cow, pig or me. They chew and digest their way through the outer layer of skin, but they don't crawl all the way in. Instead, they leave their little flea heinie (abdomen) sticking out. They use it like a snorkel to breath. It looks like a swollen bug bite with a black dot in the center. It doesn't hurt though, so most cows, pigs or, in this case, people don't notice when mommy moves in.

The black tubey thing is the flea's abdomen. The white eggy things are...uh, eggs.

[Photo taken from http://www.healthinplainenglish.com/health/infectious_diseases/tungiasis/index.htm]

In one or two weeks the female flea swells up to about the size of a pea with a 100 or so adorable little flea eggs. The eggs drop out of her heinie/abdomen/snorkel and fall to the ground. Then, sadly, the mommy dies and is eventually pushed out of the host's foot as it heals up. Meanwhile, the sweet eggs wiggle and hatch in about three or four days. They zip right through pre-school and the teenage years and in a mere two or three weeks they are crawling into feet of their own to lay eggs.

And since this whole life cycle rigamarole takes about a month and it has now been about a month since I've had any hatchings, I think I can safely say I am flea free. I do think I will be a bit more careful with my piggies next time I'm around warm, dry sandy soil though. I will be sure to wear my Scooby Doos.

(Oh, I may have forgotten to tell you that here they call flip-flops Scooby Doos. No, I have no clue why. And trust me, I've asked.)

My unlucky piggy. You can see the little black abdomen, but she did not get a chance to lay her eggs. There were eggs to be found, but they weren't quite ready for laying.

[The rest of the photos were taken by my slightly creeped out wife.]

A little cleaning and pruning with some toenail clippers to be sure all the wee beasties were gone and I was well under way to a flea free kind of life.

A little peroxide did the final cleaning. Don't worry, the bubbles are a good thing. It's the extra oxygen atom in peroxide (H2O2), being released when it hits the bloody and gooey bits of a wound. Oxygen may seem like a good thing, but too much at one time is poisonous to most germs.

Got No Snow? Just Fake It

2010-01-06T22:48:00.001+03:00

It might be cold, white and windy in your neck of the woods, but down in here in the southern hemisphere it's summertime. The sun is bright, the air is hot and there sure is no snow around, not even for Christmas. In fact, the kids here have never caught a snowflake on their tongues, made big-winged snow angels or rolled up three big balls of white to make the perfect snowman.

Even in the winter (your summer), it doesn't get cold enough for snow. That's why we had to fake it. To celebrate the holidays at the children's home, we mixed up some fake snow and had some lessons in good ol' snowman makin'.

And what is fake snow made of?

Diapers.

Ok, not quite. But diapers and fake snow are made out of the same stuff--sodium poylacrylate. The little bits of polymer have the crazy ability to soak up 200 to 300 times their own mass in water. Or in the case of diapers...pee.

If you want to play along with the kids at the home, just crack open a diaper and have a ball. Just make sure it's a new diaper.

Enjoy.

Just add water. Then watch the dazzling little specks slurp up almost all the water you can give them.

Dive in with your hands and give it all a good mixing and voila...faux snow. And since water is so good at stealing heat from your hands and everything else too, it even feels cold. Sadly, it doesn't mush or roll up into a very good snowball though.

But that doesn't mean you have to give up on Frosty. Just lay Frosty down and you're back in the snowman making business. (Also, notice how green the garden is in the background. Remember, it's summer here.)

Most of the kids in Madagascar haven't even seen pictures of what a snowman should look like. Some did a darn fine job of looking like the real thing.

And some had their own Malagasy flare.

Next time the flakes start falling, use the real stuff to make some snowmen of your own. And imagine how strange and wonderful it would be to see and feel snow for the first time.

Merry Malagasy Christmas

2009-12-25T02:28:00.001+03:00

Some things about Christmas are the same here in Madagascar as they are where ever you happen to be right now. People do flock to get their picture taken with Santa. The only difference here is Santa has lost a few hundred pounds and is wearing sunglasses. No, we did not sit on Santa's lap. Look at him. He's shrimpy; we would have crushed him.

Gifts can be a little different too. These are the holiday gifts my wife got from work: a liter of cooking oil, a chocolate log and a big hunk of meat. How would like meat for a gift?

Holiday logs are everywhere. I don't know the whole story yet, but there are candy logs, chocolate logs and stacks and stacks of log cakes.

Sometimes it can fun to not know the whole story. Then you get to make one up. Leave a comment and tell me a little story that may explain why there are tiny chocolate fish inside of this chocolate log. Are they magic fish? Holiday fish? Were the cursed by the evil Holiday Pond Queen and forced to live the rest of their lives trapped inside a piece of wood?

It Has to Be Someone's Foot, Right?

2009-11-18T21:31:00.001+03:00

How tall are you? About 4 feet or so?

Well, whose feet? Four of your feet? Four of my feet? Four chicken feet?

If we zip back in time a few hundred years, you would actually be able to answer that. Because feet used to belong to people.

Ok, that was silly. Of course feet belonged to people or cats or dogs or what have you. What I meant to say is that the measurement "a foot" was someone's actual foot.

That's one important foot. And who would have such an important foot? The king of course.

So, let's say it is 1776. You would be about 4 of King George III's feet tall. Unless of course you lived in France. Then you would be 4 King Louis XVI's feet tall. And how big were his feet?

I'll show you.

This is a ruler. Correction...this is the ruler. This brass bar was the exact length of King Louis XVI's foot. This meant people could make copies of this ruler and measure things exactly. Which is nice. Or at least certainly better than dragging the King of France around everywhere and holding his foot up to measure things. I'm sure the King would agree.

There is one problem with this system though. Every time you got a new Ruler you had to get a new ruler. Meaning if the king changed then the foot changed. And a foot in one country was never the same as a foot in another country.

It was all terribly confusing.

Then in 1799 the French had an idea! Why don't we measure the distance from the north pole to the equator, divide that number by 10 million and call it a meter!?

Great idea France. (Actually, America and England had very similar ideas and maybe even better ones, but the French idea is the one that stuck).

And here is that very first meter. The one, the only, the official meter of France (and most of the world now too). If you had 9,999,999 more platinum bars to go with this one you could put them end-t0-end and stretch them from the cold north pole all the way to the sweaty equator.

Now, this meter sits in a museum, because they kept coming up with fancier and fancier ways to measure a meter, so this one is no longer the official meter. Now a meter is how far light travels in a vacuum in one two-hundred ninety-nine million, seven-hundred ninety-two thousand, four-hundred fifty-eighth of a second.

Like I said, fancy.

And it wasn't just length the French decided to clear up in 1799. They tackled weight too. This is the first official kilogram. I nice change from the pound which used to be equal to the weight of 7,000 barley seeds. Not 6,999 tiny barley seeds. Not 7,001 tiny barley seeds. But exactly 7,000 tiny barley seeds. Count carefully.

Thank goodness we have the metric system now.

*Bonus Question: If the pound still equaled 7,000 barley seeds, how many barley seeds would you weigh?

♬♬♬ I Love You...You Love Me...We are One Big Happy Parasitic Family ♬♬♬

2009-11-16T13:08:00.000+03:00

I have been in France for a few weeks now and have been enjoying many of the Paris sites.

And, as it turns out, the parasites have been enjoying me as well.

Sorry, that was a horribly bad joke, but I hope you got the point...I have been attacked by parasites!

That is a bit dramatic. The parasites didn't really attack, but they did certainly move in. And not only did they moved in. They had babies!

A few nights ago, I stepped on something hard on the bathroom floor. At least it felt hard. There actually wasn't anything on the floor. There was something in my foot though. I looked at the bottom of my foot and there was a big round bump with a hard black dot inside. I thought it was probably just an old splinter.

I got a pair of toenail clippers to cut it open and remove the splinter. When I did, I was in for a big surprise. There was no splinter, but there were lots and lots of eggs!

Tiny, tiny white eggs and plus some puss and blood and other gooey icky things. It didn't really hurt, but it was a bit weird. There shouldn't be eggs in my foot. Where did they come from? Who did they come from?

Well, I still don't know. I did my best to get rid of all the eggs. None of them hatched, so I didn't get to see what they would turn into. They are most likely some sort of parasitic worm. A bit like the caterpillar and wasp story a few posts ago.

Creepy, I know. Some worms like to live in humans. Sometimes they crawl into your feet and sometimes they get into your body some other way like sneaking in with a mosquito. They live in the mosquito and when the mosquito bites you it rushes out of the mosquito's mouth and into your blood. When it is older and is ready to have babies, it wriggles its way under your skin or through your blood until it reaches the bottom of your foot. It lays eggs. The eggs hatch and leave your foot for better places.

But every parasitic worm is different. Some live and grow inside of you until you become very sick or even die. Some live inside of you and don't hurt you at all. And some live inside of you and actually help you. Yeah, thank you parasites!

Parasites are all over, in and through you. Right now there is an army of billions and trillions of bacteria, worms, viruses and mites that calls you home.

Don't freak out. It's not really a bad thing. If they all took a vacation it would be bad though. You would get very sick. Your body needs that tiny army to keep it healthy.

In America, most people don't get the really bad parasites. The nasty parasites like to move from person to person in dirty water and disgusting mud. Where you live, you drink clean water, you wash your clothes and bodies in fresh water, and you go to the bathroom in sparkling bright little rooms.

In Madagascar, and other very poor countries, people don't have clean water to drink and wash with. And there aren't bathrooms like yours. This means that the nasty parasites are happy and healthy, but the people sometimes are not.

My parasites didn't seem to be too bad. My foot feels fine now and all seems to be good.

So, when you go to sleep tonight, don't forget to tell your trillions of tiny friends thanks for keeping you nice and healthy. And they will thank you for being such a nice warm home.

*If you want a fancy science word for two living things helping each other out, you're in luck. It's called mutualism.

Three of the tiny, tiny eggs. You would need about 8 to make 1 grain of rice.

This is one of the bad parasites. It is found mostly in Africa and it is passed along from unclean drinking water. To remove it you have to slowly wrap it around a stick until it comes out. Be patient. It might take a while; the worm can be 3 feet long! [Photo from www.fiveoclockbot.com]

This is one of the worst parasites. It causes Lymphatic filariasis. About 12o million people in about 80 different countries suffer from the parasite. [Photo from NY Times]

Madagascar Morning Meeting: Three's a Charm

2009-11-09T14:54:00.000+03:00

Greeting:

Bonjour (they speak French here too, not just Malagasy). Thanks for joining me for another Madagascar Morning Meeting. The rainy season is starting on the island, so most afternoons we get a little sprinkle and the temperature is warming up too. I bet it is not warming up in New Jersey is it? It's cooling down. Different ends of the world; different seasons.

Well, enough of me greeting you. It's time for you to greet each other. This time we will do a Malagasy Taxi Greeting. Our city, Antananarivo, is a loud place. There are lots of old and beat up cars, lots of squealing scooters and lots of roaring motorcycles. And everyone likes to honk their horns.

So, one person goes first. Turn to a neighbor, tap on her shoulder and give a "honk." That person will give a "honk" back and then pass the tap and the "honk" on to her neighbor. After you "honk" your neighbor, keep "honking" to yourself. It should end up nice and loud, but that is a bit of what our city is like just with a lot of smoke and smog too.

If you want an extra challenge, try this:

When the first person, who should still be "honking," gets tapped on the shoulder by the last person, she should stop honking and pass the shoulder tap on to the next person. Stop honking after you have had your shoulder tapped that second time. If it works, it should get quieter and quieter until everyone has been tapped again and all is quiet.

Activity:

Here's a simply one for all you budding primatologists (scientists who study monkeys and the like). Divide the class into two teams for the game. Then click on the link below to face off against each other in a lemur quiz. Good luck.

Click to Take Lemur Quiz

Sharing:

Scroll on down the page to find a post that tickles your fancy. The post just below this one is a sad, sad little story about the wonderfully weird life of parasitic wasps. Ask your teacher to use her best over-the-top read aloud voice. I recommend that post, but feel free to try something else too. If you want to make Mr. Lebo very happy, ask your teacher to please leave a comment after you read.

Try saying to her, "Just think how sad Mr. Lebo will be if we don't leave a comment, Mrs. [your teacher's name]. He will be like a tiny sad wet puppy with no bone to chew."

Just click on the word "comment" at the bottom of the post and away you go. Don't forget to say who you are.

Goodbye:

Thank you so much for stopping by. I wish I could be there to see you in person, but New Jersey is very, very far away Madagascar. But guess what! It won't be for long. Well, not quite. I guess Madagascar will still be very, very far away, but I won't be. In December, I will be flying on over to say hello and visit. We can have a Morning Meeting in person.

There will be special movie night on December 4th for us to watch Madagascar the movie and then learn a bit about the real Madagascar. The all the next week, I will be back at school to teach again in the science lab. And the week after that I will be back on a plane for the 9,000 mile trip back to the Red Island.

I can't wait to see you all.

Take care.

Too Late for Caterpillar: A Creepy Science Bedtime Children's Tale

2009-11-05T13:35:00.000+03:00

Caterpillar was a good larva.

She loved to eat.

And she loved to eat.

All that eating made her a nice and plumpy larva. And everyone loved Caterpillar.

At night, Caterpillar dreamed wonderful little caterpillar dreams. She chewed her way through big plates of tasty green salad. She crunched a big munchy apple until there was nothing left but the tiny tippy tip of the stem.

And she dreamed too of one day soon curling up for a long, long nap inside of a cozy chrysalis. And of one day popping out as a beautiful, beautiful butterfly!

But Caterpillar wasn't the only one who dreamed.

Flying and buzzing and darting around the garden was Wasp. Wasp liked to dream to. She dreamed of a warm safe place for her cute, cuddly wasp babies to call home.

But where could her adorable baby wasps live?

Wasp was not good at building houses. And Wasp was very old. Wasp would not be buzzing and darting around much longer.

But her eggs! Her eggs need a home. They would hatch and their cold striped waspy bodies would need warmth and their tiny empty waspy bellies would need food. Wasp began to worry.

But then she saw Caterpillar

Warm, juicy Caterpillar.

Uh oh, Caterpillar! Run Caterpillar run!

But Caterpillar could not run. She could only wiggle and wrinkle slowly along.

Poor Caterpillar.

"Ouch," said Caterpillar. She felt a ting and a sting on her soft green back.

Wasp laid her innocent little eggs.

Then Wasp whirled away into the blue, blue sky. She was sleepy. And soon Wasp laid her old and tired antennae down. She took a little breath, slept and never flew again.

Awwwwwww.

But her eggs would fly some day.

The eggs were happy and toasty in their caterpillar-back beds. But you can't be a wasp egg for ever.

Soon they wriggled out into the fresh clean air, their lovely larval heads happy to finally see the world.

"Brrrrr! We are cold," they sang in their sharp larvaly voices. "And, oh, how are bellies rumble!"

"What can we eat?" they pleaded.

"Pizza!" one little wasp replied.

"Don't be silly. There is no pizza here on this warm, juicy and delicious caterpillar," another little wasp snapped.

Still a third larva called out, "The warm, juicy and delicious caterpillar! We are standing on food. We were born on food. Mom laid us on a big globby mess of food!"

"Thank you, Mom," the little chorus sang.

All but one, whose tiny compound eyes filled with tiny compound tears at the thought of the dear and thoughtful mother they had never known.

Now Caterpillar did not like this idea one bit.

"I am not food!" she shouted. "Shoo you nasty waspies!"

But, sadly, wasps don't speak Caterpillar, so they did not understand a word. And they slurped and supped for days until their bellies nearly burst.

Then something weird started to happen. Big white hairs started to appear here and there and nearly everywhere. The hairs were coming from them and the hairs were warm. Soon the larva grew sleepy in their cozy sweaters.

Then they too dreamed. They dreamed of flitting and flying in the breeze. And of one day laying their own eggs on their own juicy caterpillars and their hungry babies thanking them for a nice home and a wonderful supper.

The hairs kept growing and growing and soon the Caterpillar was lost in a big puffy cloud of sleeping pupas dreaming their precious waspy dreams.

Caterpillar did not care for this at all, but Caterpillar was cold and tired and could not do anything but sleep and sleep until she could sleep no more.

Awwwwwww.

Then one day, there was a wiggle and jiggle and a turn and toss. And soon there emerged a small baby wasp.

Then another and another.

They dried their wings and whizzed away.

The wide sky now their home and the once juicy caterpillar far, far below.

The End

Lemurs are Hard to Come by...but Insects Aren't

2009-10-26T01:48:00.000+03:00

Even though this is the only place in the whole world that has lemurs hopping, leaping and dancing around, it is still pretty tough to find one. Most of the time you have to be happy with seeing other animals instead.

But for me, that's easy, I love insects. And insects are not hard to find here. Last weekend I went with my wife to help her office collect plants and replant trees in a forest very close to the Indian ocean. While walking along and looking for plants we came across plenty of fantastic six-legged creatures.

This little girl looks like part shrimp and part grasshopper. How do I know it's a girl? Look at that long skinny needle coming out of her abdomen (butt). That's an ovum depositor. An egg laying tube in other words.

Look at the claws and jaws on this hunter. That would be a scary creature to meet in the dark.

Ok, maybe not that scary. This praying mantis is pretty tiny after all.

But like all praying mantids, it is still a great hunter. And also like all praying mantids, it comes complete with wonderful camouflage.

Not every insect spends part of it's life as a caterpillar, but every insect does have six legs. Even caterpillars only have six. Flip one over next time and count the shoes. You'll find six shoes or legs in the front that all look about the same, short with little claws. And behind them you will find several sets of stumpy legs with suction cups on the end. Those act like legs, but they are not legs. They are fake legs and disappear when the larva pupates and pops out an adult.

This katydid did do what katydids do do so well...it hid. Katydids eat leaves, but there are lots of things that eat them back, so they have to blend in while they enjoy their salads.

Here's someone on the prowl, or should I say on the slither, for a tasty katydid.

"Hey, fungus isn't an insect!"

You're exactly right, but that isn't a white puffy colony of fungus--it's an aphid! But if you want to hide, looking like a ball of untasty fungus is a neat trick. Look closely and you can see little black lines. Those are the legs. Yep, six of them.

And here's the weirdest of them all. I stared at this little darling for awhile. I couldn't tell what it was. It walked like an ant, but there were no other ants around. And most ants love to be around their ant friends. It had six legs and three body parts, so it couldn't be a spider.

Or could it? The thorax and abdomen may look like two separate parts, but they do seem awfully close when you zoom in. And maybe I counted my legs before they hatched, so to speak. Those two skinny "antenna" up front actually bend in the middle like, say, legs. Six plus two is eight. Eight legs, two body parts. Hey, wait a minute, it is a spider.

When I went to pick it up after observing in for several minutes, something else happened. I accidentally knocked it off a leaf, but it didn't fall to the ground. It fell halfway to the ground, and floated in the air, hanging from a long thin...silk thread.

You never can tell with little creatures. Look close they may not be what they seem. Why don't you head outside today and see if you can find something cool and creepy. Good luck and don't hurt the poor things. You're way bigger and scarier than any of them.

Science You Can Really Sink Your Siege Engine Into

2009-10-17T10:45:00.000+03:00

So you've got a large-scale model medieval siege engine in your garage and you're just not sure what to do with it? Maybe it's a trebuchet that was used to fling large large rocks into castle walls or dead cows over them. Well, castles are pretty hard to find nowadays and don't even get me started on dead cows. So what is to be done?

Well, you know who loves to throw things? Kids. So take your thingamajig tosser and do some science.

That is exactly what we did last week. Some of the children at Akany Avoko rolled up their sleeves and helped build a couple of meter tall trebuchets. A few adjustments here and there and they were ready for some good hands-on science teaching.

We had a warm-up lesson exploring the basics of levers, but on Friday we were ready for the real thing.

The two teams of 4th and 5th graders loaded up their trebuchets with tennis balls and prepared for battle. Each team was at one end of a basketball court and had to try and hurl the ball at a target on the other end. Hit the target three times and win.

Three, two, one...jump back and fire! After each shot the machine was adjusted and fired again. The lever arm of the trebuchet had three different settings to choose from.

The losing team had to face a firing squad! It was a water balloon firing squad, so it wasn't as bad as it sounds. The winning team got to fling one balloon at the losing team.

But then we made it fair. We moved the trebuchets closer and both teams switched from tennis balls to water balloons! Sounds a lot better than a science book doesn't it?

The trick was firing at the enemy without getting sloshing wet from an incoming balloon yourself.

Sometimes there was just nothing to do but take one for the team.

But really, on a toasty hot afternoon, who doesn't want to be drenched with a water balloon.

[Click here to see and learn more about trebuchets from PBS's Nova.]

[Click here to attack at castle with a virtual trebuchet game.]

Waving Goodbye to the Dinosaurs and A Prickly Proposition

2009-10-09T00:05:00.000+03:00

Three more photos that can't stop talking. Listen to their blabbing and see what you learn (or would that be hear what you learn?).

Head to the beach and munch on some fries and watch a wave. It didn't last too long did it? A few seconds and the wave was gone. Dogpiled by a few dozen other waves from behind. But take a gander at the photo.

The mountain we are on is about a 10 hour drive to the closest beach, but those there be waves in the stone. That rock used to be a nice sandy shoreline with gentle waves lapping at its grains. All those ripples were then trapped underneath some gush of more sand or mud from a flood or storm. Keep adding more sediment on top and all that weight plus a whole lot of time turns that bumpy beach into a rock.

So how old are these frozen waves? I'm not too sure. It's hard to do research here even with Google (amazing I know). It could be 1000 million years old. The last dinosaurs said bye bye about 65 million years ago. Think about that. The wavy rock is like a thousand year old man compared to a 65 year old man. That's a big difference.

Hairy be wary! Not only does that little saying help you to avoid poison ivy vines in the woods and very old leftovers in the fridge, but it also can keep a sleeping moth from getting the better of you. Some caterpillars are plump smooth and wrinkly little buggers. And some have a full head (and body) of hair.

The hairs aren't for looks. On some caterpillars, the hairs are for fightin'! Caterpillars are tasty little treats, but being tasty can end badly. To keep from being a juicy appetizer, they surround themselves with bristling hairs of DEATH! Ok, not really hairs of DEATH! More like hairs of annoyance. Some caterpillar hairs are full of a mild venom that can make you or a hungry lizard quite itchy. The hollow hairs have special tips that break off and release the pesky poison.

Other hairs have nasty hooks on the end that poke right into an enemy's skin, but they don't poke back out. All great ways to keep off a dinner plate, but what happens when the soon-to-be-moth finds a cozy little place and starts its metamorphosis? Those hairs won't do a whole lot good on the inside of a soft and silky cocoon. But they would make a dandy barbed wire fence. Some moths pluck or pop off their hairs and weave them right into their silky cocoon to fend off famished foes as they pupate their days away.

The photo shows some of those hairs still standing guard even long after the moth has flown away. And do they really work? Ask my wife who was still picking the hairs out of her skin 5 hours after this photo. See if she ever eats a caterpillar again! (Don't freak out. My wife doesn't eat caterpillars. At least not that I know of.)

Hey, where's the popcorn? Think about the last time you went to the movies. Think of all the lights and posters and candy and popcorn and soda. Think of the 18 other movies playing in the theaters all around yours. Well, this little wooden shack is not a storage shed; it is the local cineplex. And there was no popcorn at this movie theater. There wasn't even electricity at this movie theater. Well, sort of. They used a small gas-powered generator to give the little TV and DVD player some juice. People sit on skinny little wooden benches or just stand. It may not sound like much, but it is a bargain. A ticket costs only about 15 cents.

It's True, a Picture of a Dead Fly on a Flower is Worth a Thousand Words

2009-10-04T23:10:00.000+03:00

Or maybe slightly less than a thousand words, but this picture does have a lot to say. For one thing, look at the cool animal on the flower.

How many legs?

Six.

How many body parts?

Three.

Is its mouth shoved smack into some delicious nectar?

Sure is.

So it must be a bee, right?

Wrong.

Bees aren't the only insects that slurp up tasty energy-packed nectar. Flies do too. Some flies anyway. Other flies eat blood or, believe it or not, poop. But the one in the picture is a nectar lover. Insects eat nectar because it tastes good and it has lots of energy.

So plants make the nectar for the insects, because they love their six-legged friends so much, right? Not quite. Plants want the insects to come for the nectar, but while they are enjoying their delicious snack the insects usually get a bit of sticky pollon stuck on their furry legs and such. Look at the fly and you will see all the hairs. When the insect buzzes off to get another snack, it picks up some more pollen, but it also drops a bit of the other pollen off.

This is how plants get married and have babies. Fine, plants don't get married. But they do make babies. We just call them seeds. Their babies may not cry and pee and poo, but seeds to grow up to look just like their parents. And since plants don't walk, the only way for pollen to get from one plant to another to make the babies/seeds is with the help of some flying furry friends.

Let's see, what else can this picture tell us? Well, see how close that photo is? Try getting that close to a living buzzing fly sometime. It's not easy. But it is quite easy to get this close to a dead one. Yep, that fly is dead (I'll give you a moment to cry and send some flowers)...

...Ok, so why did it die with its mouth stuck in a flower? This picture was taken in the middle of the island of Madagascar. The island may be tropical, but that doesn't mean the whole place is nice and toasty and covered in coconut trees. The middle of the island is more than a mile above the ocean. And the higher you go up, the thinner the air gets. Air is like a blanket. A thick blanket is warm. A thin blanket is cooler. The thinner blanket means it gets cold at night. Sometimes even cold enough to snow in the tropics.

Flying insects don't like the cold. When it gets too cold, they can't fly. If they can't fly, they can't eat. If they can't eat, they can't get any energy. Without energy, their three little body parts get cold and they die.

Flies don't build hives or cozy nests like bees and wasps, they have to find a warm place each night. And a flower is great choice. Flowers are like little heaters. They make heat the same way you do. If you are cold, you do something. You run around, rub your hands together, shiver, shake, eat. Plants may look like they just sit there and stare at the sun, but they are all together quite as busy as the bees that land on them.

Even at night they keep working away. Plants don't sleep, they spend the night breathing just like you do. They puff out carbon dioxide and other gases from their leaves just like you do from your mouth. That puffing means things are moving inside of them and making them warm. Now during the day the plants were busy making food from the bright rays of the sun. At night, they sit down (so to speak) and eat all that wonderful food. That eating and digesting also makes them all warm and cozy. The chilly fly landed on the flower to get a bit of nectar and cuddle with the warm flower for the night, but it wasn't enough. The fly was just too cold or just too old and she went sleepy sleep forever.

Wow, this picture sure is talkative. It had a lot more to say than I thought. Right'o, but it's not done blabbering yet. Take a close gander at the rest of the plant. What do you see bristling here there and everywhere? Hairs. Those hairs mean a lot. The middle of Madagascar has two big seasons. A wet season with lots and lots of drizzles and drops and storms and a dry season with lots and lots of sun and heat and dust. If a plant wants to survive the dry season and drink till its little roots' content in the rainy season, it needs a way to get and keep all the water it can.

The tiny hairs act like a jacket to protect it from the cool nights and the hot days. Wait a second! How does a jacket help when it's hot? The hairs make a wet jacket by holding onto the nice damp morning dew. Then the dry air can suck up the dew from the plant's wet hairy jacket instead of the water inside of the plant. This particular plant, a pachypodium, also has a nice thick juicy stem full of water that it sips throughout the dry season.

Ok, I will tell the picture to shush up for now, so you can back to your learin' and such. Thanks for listening and please enjoy the much less talkative pictures below. They are from a wonderful trip last week to the mountains of Ibity in the central highlands. Come back Wednesday and Friday for more pics and tidbits from the trip.

Take care.

My wife, Cindy, and a few houses of the lucky souls that get to live in this beautiful backdrop.

Without a doubt, the coolest and most colorful six-legged beasty I've ever seen in person.

This yellow frog does not seem amused.

This lizard has some dandy camouflage that helps it hide from the birds and sneak up on the juicy critters that also linger on the rocks.

This we didn't have to sneak up on. After a long morning of hiking in the sun, we enjoyed a big plate of sweet boiled manioc. It's a potato-like root you won't find on many menus in the United States.

What is It? Video Addition

2009-09-21T22:18:00.000+03:00

Click on the video below and see if you can answer the question:

What is it?

So, is it...

a baby snake
a leech from some lettuce we just bought
a gecko tail
a centimeter worm (we use the metric system here)

I will leave some a bunch of blank space here so you can't cheat and see the answer quite yet. Make a guess and then scroll down to find out what the little wiggly thing is.

So, what is it? Well, it is actually a gecko tail. Geckos are ravenous little skeeter eaters (they eat lots of other insects too). But just because they spend their lives eating dusty-winged moths and other mouthwatering treats, doesn't mean they don't find themselves on the other end of the fork occasionally. That is to say, geckos eat some things and some things eat geckos. Birds, other lizards and geckos, or in this case, our dog.

Our dog saw a four-legged long-tailed toy running down the sidewalk and tried to play with it. The gecko didn't care for the game, but it was a bit too slow. Our dog snipped her pointy puppy teeth right onto the gecko's tail. Ouch!

No problem. The gecko had a secret weapon...the tail is a break-away. It snaps right off like a piece of Legos. Our dog ended up with a tiny tail and the gecko ended up with a scary story to tell all the other geckos around the campfire that night.

Lots of lizards have this nifty feature. Some don't even need a dog to help snap the tail off. They can just flex their little lizard muscles and pop their own tail right off. But the tail has little muscles of its own too. And those little muscles keep twitching and flipping around so that the tail looks like a tasty treat too. While the hungry gecko-eater is getting ready to munch of the delicious market-fresh all-organic tail, the rest of the gecko is getting away and living to flee another day. This particular tail kept on dancing around for over 15 minutes after the gecko left it behind.

Giant Leaf-Tailed Gecko from Madagascar

It doesn't hurt the gecko and special cells even keep it from bleeding. Geckos do store fat in their tails, so it does lose some of its well-deserved energy. And until a new tail grows back (yep, they just grow a new one), they can't use the cool tail trick to get away from predators.

And how cool is this? Sometimes a bit of tail is left behind, so that little bit grows back into a full-sized tail too. Add that to the new tail it normally grows and you end up with a two-tailed gecko.

What Mr. Lebo did During Your Summer Vacation...in 500 Words or Less

2009-09-13T15:53:00.000+03:00

The tremendous and towering baobab trees of Madagascar.

Welcome back! Tonga soa!

I hope you had a marvelous summer in Princeton and elsewhere. I myself just had a wonderful winter here in Madagascar. Don't forget, I'm on the upside down part of the world, the southern hemisphere. While you had a hot and sometimes rainy summer, I had a cool and very dry winter. There was even a tiny bit of snow one day on our lovely tropical island, but I didn't get a chance to see it (it's quite a big island too).

Now that you all have started hitting the books again, the blog will be up and running too. I will put up a new post each weekend, so you will have all week to check it out and leave some lovely comments. Don't forget to vote on the What is It? poll on the sidebar too.

Enough words. Let's see some pretty pictures of what I've been up to.

My wife's sister and father came over for a fantastic visit this summer and we went to some great places together. This is from a hike and climb through the crazy rock formations of the tsingy limestone.

My wife and I are dressed up and dancing, but we are not at a wedding. We are at a Malagasy funeral and we're doing the conga around 5 dead bodies that were just dug up from an underground tomb. Don't worry, you'll learn more about this later.

I got to go on a trip and picnic to the zoo with the fabulous kids from the children's home, Akany Avoko. I volunteer there 4-5 days a week as a carpenter, furniture maker and science teacher.

Of course, I got to see some more cool animals like this beefy chameleon here.

And this big-eyed nocturnal lemur.

And this big-eyed-nocturnal-lemur-eater also known as a fosa.

I also volunteer as a medic and English teacher with the Malagasy Red Cross. On this day, I was lucky enough to be a stretcher carrier at an international soccer game, Madagascar vs. Brazil. The fighting bulls of Madagascar actually won 3-1. And I had a better-than-front-row seat right on the sideline.

Some great friends and family members donated money for me to fix up the wood shop at the children's home and now I teach woodworking to the kids once a week too. Valentine made this crafty wooden plane.

Every time we travelled, we and our white skin seemed to always attract all the kids' attention.

We found this adorable stray puppy and adopted her into our home and hearts. Sadly, she became sick and passed away just a few weeks ago. Her name was Kibo and we miss her very, very much.

I ate lots of delicious Malagasy food like this plate of green papaya salad that cost a whopping 7 cents.

Cindy and her sister enjoyed playing with kids when we travelled.

I saw some beautiful natural sights like this glorious sunset.

And there aren't any ice cream stands or hot dog vendors like the Jersey shore, but we did get to the beach too. Quite pretty at least.

If you want to see and hear more, just keep coming back. I will be putting up whole posts about several of the great trips I had this summer. And of course all the adventures yet to come as well.

I miss you all very much.

(For the picky ones among you, I actually used 591 words not the 500 words or less I promised. Sorry.)

Read-Aloud Now a Regular Thing

2009-07-20T00:34:00.000+03:00

Sorry for the long absence. We were lucky enough to have some family visit us all the way from the USA, so I was away and traveling with them for a few weeks. But I am back and have post after post worth of cool and marvelous things to share. However, most of you are out on summer break right now, so a lot of the posting will start up again in September when school begins and teachers and students can check back in for another year of the wild and weird in Madagascar.

Don't fret. I will still share a few things, but just not as often. And Every few weeks I will post a new read-a-loud book for teachers to use and kids to enjoy. This installment of Curl Up with Kibo (our newly adopted puppy) features my favorite author and illustrator, Mo Willems. The man's a genius. I dare you to look into Piggie's eyes and not laugh or cry along.

P.S. A special hello and hugs and kisses to my nieces and nephew who are all being tucked into bed tonight with their uncle reading them a story even though their uncle is 9000 miles away. I wish it were much much closer.

A Special Thank you to Mrs. Goldstein's Class at CP

2009-06-22T20:42:00.000+03:00

A recent, hasty and quite productive book drive at CP and LB had some wonderful results (more on that in the next post). This movie is a special thank you to Mrs. Goldstein's class at CP who collected about 40 books for the children of Akony Avoko. They sent along a nice letter with some wonderful questions and this is a video response to that letter.

Note:

Why didn't Victor mention lemurs?

Well, for the same reason you wouldn't mention polar bears as an animal you see in America. Polar bears don't live in New Jersey, but there are some in America. Lemurs do live in Madagascar, but not where Victor and the other children of Akany Avoko live, so they don't see them unless they go to the zoo.

Madagascar Morning Meeting: Part Deux

2009-06-16T21:42:00.000+03:00

Welcome back to the Madagascar Morning Meeting. We have a few hundred new visitors this time, because the wonderful students and teachers at CP are joining in this time too. Glad to have you all here. Follow along and have a good time.

Greeting and Activity:

Normally, the greeting and the activity are two different things. But we will dare to combine the two and see what happens. Language is a tricky thing here. Very few people speak English. A lot of people speak French. Everyone speaks Malagasy. But they don't all speak the same Malagasy. There are over 20 different versions. Some are only a little different. Some are like a whole new language. All this means there are a heap of ways to say hello.

Here are five different ways people say hello in Madagascar (not the only five, but five). Click on the movie below for help pronouncing these little mouthfuls:

Salama (sa-lam-a)

Bonjour (bon-jure)

Akory be (a-kor-a bay)

Tonga soa (toon-ga soo-a)

Salut (sa-loo)

And here's the game. Two versions actually.

K-2 Version:

Play the telephone game using one of the five ways of saying hello. The teacher starts to make sure it pronounced correctly (or close to correctly). Pass it down the line and see what comes out the other end. Try again with a different way.

3-5 Version:

If you are not in a circle, get yourselves in one and stand up. One person starts and turns to a neighbor and says hello in any of the above five ways. Easy so far. Now that neighbor has to turn to her neighbor and say hello in a different of the five ways. That's it. If you repeat the word the person just said to you. You are out. If you say hello in any way that is not one of the five ways, you are out. Keep playing until there is only one language lover left.

Sharing:

Well, the whole darn blog is about sharing, so scroll on down and have a look see. The last two posts have lots of cute animals, some furry, some not. There is even a little homemade movie of some fascinating lemurs. There's a post about food. One about skeletons. Oh, who am I kidding? You just want to see lemurs, so just go down a bit and enjoy.

Goodbye:

Last time we learned how to say hello in Malagasy. This time we will learn goodbye. But why learn to speak Malagasy from some vazha (Malagasy for "white guy") when you could learn it from an actual Malagasy. Click on the video to get a short but proper language lesson from my friend Dr. John (just for the record, he is not an actual doctor, but it is a great nickname).

Have a wonderful summer. I miss you all very much. The blog will be up and running all summer (your summer, our winter), so please check back in for life and lessons from Madagascar.

Take care and veloma.

The Free Lemur (Photos)

2009-06-10T04:27:00.000+03:00

"Admit it. You want to pet me don't you?"

I'm a science teacher of my word, so here are your free lemur photos.

I won't bore you too much with words this post. However, there is a brief but quite informative movie at the end you should most certainly watch. For now, here are some wonderful lemurs and just a few words to go with each. Enjoy.

Lemurs have territories and they don't always like to share those territories. This golden sifaka is wearing a very fashionable radio collar, so scientists can keep track of what territory he and his family are in.

You might like a tasty hamburger, but lemurs are vegetarians. And most of them love fruits most of all. This one is quite literally going out on a limb for some delicious juicy fruit.

And when the fruit is all gone, they simply leap from limb to limb until they find some more.

Look, Mom! That teddy bear's alive!

This brown wooly lemur is a night owl. Well, not an actual owl, but you get the point.

Like most lemurs, the brown wooly lemurs live in a group. Their groups are small though: just mom, pop and the kids.

These indri lemurs are special for lots of reasons. For one thing, instead of long tails, they have stubby thumb-sized tails. For all the other things, play the movie at the bottom of the post.

"Wait! I think I hear humans."

"Where are they?"

"Ah, ha! Found them."

"All their cameras and funny-colored button-up fur make me nervous. I'm out of here."

Click the play button to see and hear the indri lemurs in action. And free vanilla beans for life if you correctly pronounce the word that comes before Madagascar. Good luck with that.

Read this Post and Win Free Lemur...

2009-05-30T18:49:00.000+03:00

...Photos. Sorry, I can't give away an actual lemur. They are very hard to mail. No matter how you lick the stamps, they just fall right off the fur.

A few weekends ago, we were lucky enough to visit several forests and parks near Andasibe. They were packed full of lemurs and other wonderful creatures. Just to make sure you come back, I will start with the other wonderful creatures.

In a few days, I will unleash the lemur (photos that is).

Sadly, a lot of the forests in Madagascar have been cut down or burned, but this is one of the lucky forests that has escaped. The sciency way of saying that is "primary forest". Or to be even more specific, it is a "primary montane rain forest".

It is full of giant ferns and palms. It looks like a perfect place for a pet dinosaur.

Or perhaps a giant grub instead.

See? Big.

At night the forest comes alive with all kinds nocturnal thingamabobbers like tiny lemurs, funny-nosed bats, crawly insects and marvelous chameleons like this fellow. Well, most of the chameleons are not nocturnal, but they are much easier to find at night. A shining flashlight turns their eyeballs into two little headlights. All their wonderful camouflage makes them very hard to find during the day when they are out hunting insects and other tasty prey. Look at the special feet that are perfect for latching onto twigs. But they're terrible for strolling on the ground.

This is a baby Parson's chameleon. Some people think it is the largest chameleon in the world. It lives about 7 years, so this one still has time to grow into an an 18 inch long giant (without the tail).

This is Gigantis madagascarius. Otherwise known as the goliath bird-eating chameleon.

Ok, not quite. Unless of course the birds are very, very tiny.

But the birds aren't tiny. And some of them do indeed like to eat chameleons. That is if they can find them. This one looks a whole lot like a branch and not a tasty morsel.

What sticky-footed fellow is hiding behind that leaf?

The striking Madagascar day gecko, that's who. He's on the hunt for some insects.

Like these guard termites who make sure no intruders try to break into their home sweet termite mound. Intruders have a nasty habit of tracking mud all over the place. Oh yeah, and eating everyone too.

Hey, it's a little rolly polly (pill bug).

Partly right. It is a roly-poly. But it is not little. This is a smaller and dead one. All the live ones rolled up into ping-pong-sized balls as soon as I touched them.

A wonderful frog. A petite one too. She could use a penny as an umbrella (that is if the penny had a handle and she an opposable thumb).

Nice spider! Not so fast. Count those legs again. It only has six legs. Its two antennae are colored to look like two more legs. That big abdomen is quite spider like too. But its other two main body parts aren't. Spiders only have two main body parts. Insects have three. So what is it? I have no idea. But it's not a spider.

Speaking of spiders. Here is an unfortunate moth stuck in spider web. Let's take a closer look.

Hum, that's funny? This moth has eight legs. That was probably the last thought of a lot of insects right before this thorn spider wrapped them up and ate them.

And, if you aren't careful, you could get wrapped up too. This web is taller than I am. Yikes.

And this is the home of some very special spiders. There are over 40,ooo different spider species in the world. And almost all of them prefer to be alone. The only time one adult spider hangs out with another adult is to make babies or to eat the other one for lunch. But there are about 20-30 spider species that do like to hangout together. They all help build a giant web/nest kind of thing and when some unlikely insect gets caught in the web. Dozens or even hundreds of spiders come bounding in from all sides to eat it or wrap it up for a snack later.

My wife Cindy and I after a great day of lemur and non-lemur spotting.

Don't worry, the lemurs are coming. Check back in a few days.

Read-Aloud Anyone?

2009-05-29T21:14:00.000+03:00

For the benefit of Ms. Kirby's 5th grade class at LB and/or any other class and/or any nieces and/or nephew who may stop by the blog, here is a movie of me reading a wonderful book from England entitled The Gruffalo. Click and enjoy.

(No, it's not a science book, but remember I came from the land of third grade teachers before moving to the lab.)

Sorry, this is the small, low-quality version. If our connection improves, I will replace it with the high quality version.

We'll be back online soon!

2009-05-28T18:35:00.000+03:00

I know you are on the edge of your seat waiting for the next installation of life in Madagascar, but you will have to wait a little longer. Sorry for the delay, but there have been technical difficulties. Can you believe the internet has been so slow that sometimes I can’t even send an email or a Skype message? Maybe all the visitors to our blog have clogged up the works. We’ll try to be less interesting in the future.

However, I would like to part on a piece of good news for the blog. We are procuring our very own internet connection that we can use from home, and will hopefully be more reliable than the connection we have been using. Please come back soon!

When you Grow Up, No One Can Tell you Not to Play with your Food

2009-05-20T16:26:00.000+03:00

Here is the delicous rambutan fruit after being set free from the basket.

Bite it open and pop out the fruit. It is about the shape and sliminess of an eyeball only tastier.

They are not very filling, so you can eat them like grapes.

Or you can play with them...then eat them.

Or take them home and have a fruit decorating party with your wife, Cindy (right) and roommate, Swanni (left). Then you can make marvelous things like...

Three amigos: Mickey Mouse, Don Pedro and Marvin the Martian

Weevil

Spider

Germinating Plant

Blowfish

Glyptodon

Penguin

Or even your pet dog, Dashiell

Playing with your food seem like fun? Well, get some fruit and have some fun yourself. Then please send me photos of your wonderful creations and I will post them on the blog.

Send photos to: chad_lebo@monet.prs.k12.nj.us

How Many Bones in a Giraffe's Neck?

2009-05-10T16:59:00.000+03:00

Well, this is the place in Paris to find the answer. This is La Galerie de Paléontologie at Le Musée National d'Histoire Naturelle (that's French for bone museum). "A Night at the Museum" would be a very different movie if it happened here. Or maybe not, I never actually saw the movie. Most of you voted for twenty-one vertebrae in a giraffe's neck. And...most of you were wrong. If you take a close look, you'll see that a giraffe has only seven bones from its head to its shoulders. Amazingly, so do you. Yours are just a wee bit shorter is all.

All that height is good for a giraffe in the wild. It lets them eat the tasty leaves that others can't reach and they can see when pesky meat eaters may be lurking nearby.

So, have you ever wondered what a pod of whale zombies might look like? Wonder no more.

Have you ever seen a cuter skull? Be honest now. It's from a tiny monkey called a Buffon macaque.

Two mouths. Two noses. Two eyes. Too bad it is too hard to live like that.

Birds have bones, of course, but did you know they are hollow so the heavy bones don't keep them from flying?

Sure, you've seen a sand dollar. But how about a millions-of-years old sand bank?

Don't forget humans are animals too.

This is a dragonfly fossil. A really big dragonfly fossil. A nearly two-foot wide dragonfly fossil. Imagine that, a dragonfly as big as a hawk.

This may be France, but Madagascar pops up everywhere. There are two bird skeletons in this photo, but these bird bones aren't hollow? Hey, you lied to us! You said birds have hollow bones, so they can fly? Right, but these birds don't fly. The smaller one on the left is a large ostrich. So, if the small one is an ostrich what the heck is the big one? That's a big ol' elephant bird from Madagascar. They are extinct, but they are one of the largest birds ever to walk the Earth. It weighs as much as 125 big chickens. It is as tall as 30 robins. And a whopping 14,000 hummingbird eggs could fit inside just one elephant bird egg. Yeah, 14,000!

Enough elephant bird eggs to hold 84,000 baby hummingbirds.

The glytodon. This extinct fellow is no ordinary armadillo. He is taller than I am.

And what bone museum would be complete without a vicious pointy-toothed dinosaur?

Madagascar Morning Meeting

2009-04-30T01:43:00.000+03:00

Welcome to the Madagascar Morning Meeting. It is great to see you all. Well, maybe not "see", but you understand. Before we begin, let's make sure you know where Madagascar is. Give the globe a good ol' spin and see if you can find where I am and where you are.

Greeting:

Morning Meetings start with a greeting, so click on the movie below to get started. (The movie was filmed while I was still in France a week or so ago).

Activity:

Madagascar kids do have some games that are all their own, but today we will play one that you and they both already know. I'll explain the rules; you see if you can figure out what game it is. Everyone needs to sit in a circle. One person will be "it" to start. She will walk around the circle gently touching each person on the shoulder as she goes. Do you know the game yet? If you think it is Duck, Duck, Goose, you're wrong. This is Madagascar. Here they call it Gàna Fòtsy, Gàna Mèna. It means White Duck, Red Duck, but the game is exactly the same. When someone says Gàna Mèna, the chase is on. Good luck and, since you are inside, no running. If you run, you go to the middle. Unless of course you want to pop outside for a couple of minutes. Then you could run.

P.S. Here's some help with the pronunciation. White duck sounds like this, "Gana foots" (but the "foots" sounds like "hoots" except with an "f"). Red duck sounds like this, "Gana men."

Sharing:

Scroll on down the page and have a look see at one of the posts. Your teacher knows which one is best for you, but here's a reminder:

Grades K-2 should read the post that is just under this one and it is called "Out of the City and Into the Country."

Grades 3-5 should read the post that is two below this one and it is called "Back in Madagascar Again."

Please, please, please, please, please, please leave a comment when you're done reading. I would very much love to hear from you.

Goodbye:

I hope you had a good time and learned a few things about Madagascar. If you would like to do this again, just let your teacher know and maybe we could do one meeting every month. I miss you all. Take care

Velòma.

Out of the City and into the Country

2009-04-27T16:29:00.000+03:00

[This is a repost of an older post to make it easier to find for Littlebrook's Madagascar Morning Meeting. It was originally posted on February 15, 2009.]

Sorry it's been so long since I put a post on the blog. My wife and I were at a scientific research site along the southeast coast. The town is Mahabo if you have a really good map and want to look it up. There is no electricity at the site and certainly no internet, so I couldn't send you any updates for the 7 days I was there. I'm back now, so I can get back to blogging.

A few interesting things are happening here. Right now there are 2 Presidents. They are fighting about who gets to be the one official President. This is not an election like we just had in America. They are fighting and arguing about who should be in charge. They are using mostly words and big protests, but there has been some people hurt and killed in all the arguing. Some people have been burning TV stations and robbing the grocery stores. We have been very safe, but is certainly different than living in Princeton.

Anyway, here are some great photos from our trip to the research station. This was in a very rural area. The people live in one-room reed and wood huts with roofs made of the rice stalks leftover from harvesting their rice paddies. Very few people have electricity and no one we saw had running water. They speak a different version of the Malagasy language too. No one speaks French there, so we had to use a lot of charades to talk to people. A cyclone was hitting nearby, so there were some fantastic storms to watch as well.

An insect eating pitcher plant. The insects get stuck at the bottom of that tube and then the plants juices dissolve and eat the insects.
That is if the insects make it that far. In this picture you can see a small white web from a spider that is using the plant as a trap to catch the insects before they get to the tube. Clever, huh.
Cute frog. Its about the size of a marshmallow. I don't know the name. Maybe you can identify it.
Who needs a backpack. Heads work just fine.
An ant enjoying a delicious meal served from this plants gland. The plant wants to ants to come, because the ants help protect the plant from other more damaging insects.
This praying mantis is having a nice little picnic. The cicada is not.
Giant snails were crawling all over the forest floor. They are about the size of baseballs and our guide said they are delicious.
Forget to bring a raincoat to the rain forest? Not a problem. Just strap on a big palm leaf.

There's no furniture stores in the rain forest. The villagers pick this sphagnum, dry it, and stuff into sheets to make mattresses.
Some adorable kittens who live at the research center.
A very scared house mouse who lived outside our bungalow.
One of a few thousand crabs running around the beach.
A big ol' unidentified snake. It was about 2 meters long (6 feet).

Back in Madagascar Again

2009-04-26T20:15:00.005+03:00

I'm pretty sure that I ate the ear of a pig this week. But it is hard to tell about these things in Madagascar. But that story is for another day. Today, I'd like to talk about our return to the island. We were in France and England for the past two months for my wife's work, but now after a very long plane ride we are back in Madagascar. Outside of our city, it is as lovely as ever.

But inside of our city, we see a lot of this: trucks full of soldiers and policemen. They are there because of the crazy politics in Madagascar right now. What the heck are politics? Well, politics are all the things that have to do with presidents, mayors, governments, courts and all that.

The politics in America have been very interesting lately with the newly elected President Obama. Well, there is a new president in Madagascar too, but the new president here was not elected like in America. This new president kicked the old president out by holding big rallies and marches. Then he used the army to force the old president out of his offices and houses. The people of Madagascar have suffered through all of this. Many people have been hurt and more than 100 people have lost their lives.

Most of the world does like the way the new president took over the country and the old president is trying to come back. A lot of the people in our city want the old president back too, so they have been having marches and rallies every day.

These are some supporters of the old president. I may have been the only American at the rally of 5,ooo people, but there was at least one American flag as well. People started pushing and fighting at the end of the rally and that night other people began to throw rocks and fight the police.

Many people were hurt and one police officer died. The rally the next day became a funeral for the police officer.

Some of the angry protesters burn cars during the riots. This car is near our house and just down the street from my wife's office.

People also block the streets with anything they can find. The street to our house was blocked by a huge pile of stinky trash. These men are cleaning it up the next morning.

All of this should seem very weird to you. That's because you are lucky enough to live in a country that has elections instead of fighting. And whether it is Princeton or Antananarivo or anywhere, those who are lucky should do what they can to help those that aren't. My wife and I are lucky to have a nice safe house to live in, clean water to drink and plenty of food, so it is our job to help others. My wife helps to protect the plants and animals of the island with her research. And I have started helping with the Malagasy Red Cross. I volunteer on their ambulance and teach classes about medicine and speaking English.

There are always people who aren't as lucky as you. Please do what you can to help others.

Take a Ride on the Dodo-Go-Round

2009-04-14T16:25:00.000+03:00

Paris is so beautiful it can make your head spin. It can make the rest of you spin too, because the city is crawling with wonderful carousels. Around every corner is another chance to hop on a wooden horse and bob up and down as the sites of the city whirl past. Some are as frilly as Cinderella's gown, some are bright and covered in a thousand twinkling lights, and some are even two-stories tall.

But this is the story of one very special carousel. When I first saw it, I grabbed my camera to take a photo of the "funny" giraffes spinning around and around. The giraffes were "funny", because instead of their horns being just little furry bumps, they were flat sprawling moose antlers. Instead of long lady-like necks that swayed like breezy palms, they had stout strong necks like galloping horses. I thought they looked magical. Maybe some happy French kids astride some unicorns and griffins would spin around next.

But a one-horned shiny-maned steed is not what spun into view. Where an elegant magical beast like the "wild moose-giraffe" should be was a dumpy little bird with a beak the size of a banana. "Hey, that's a dodo!" I said. Then I read the name of the carousel: The Dodo Merry-Go-Round.

Duh! These weren't magical creatures; these were extinct creatures. What a marvelous idea! What a wonderful lesson this would be!

So here it is: A little lesson compliments of the Dodo-Go-Round.

Click the play button to see the the Dodo-Go-Round in action.

Dodo [Click on the bold titles to learn more.]

Here's the bird you probably all know. You'll never see one alive, but some people did. The last dodo walked around the island of Mauritius more than 300 years ago. People are the reason there are no more dodos, but it's not because they killed and ate them all. In fact, people even made a point to write down how bad dodos tasted. But when humans came to the island, they brought other animals like pigs, dogs, and parrots and it was those animals that ended up eating dodo eggs and hogging all the food that normally fed the dodo.

Elephant Bird

And you thought ostriches were big? Well, ostriches are like little chickens compared to this long-necked fellow. In fact, this bird really was as big as Big Bird on Sesame Street. If one walked into your room right now, the feathers on it's head would be scraping the ceiling. They weighed 1,000 pounds (that's as much as an entire class of kindergartners). And where did these giants live? Well, they actually lived in Madagascar and people still find their enormous fossilized eggs that can fit over 150 chicken eggs inside.

Glyptodon

If a small car suddenly sprouted four short strong legs and started eating your front lawn, it would be something like the glyptodon. Go back 12,000 years to the end of the last ice age and you might find one of the of these giant armadillo-turtle-bears. They came up to your teacher's chin, were as long as a car and were covered in fur and had a very heavy turtle-like shell on their back and a helmet on their head.

Barbary Lion

Hey, lions aren't extinct! You're right. But there's not just one species of lion. Just like there are more than one species of squirrel. This species lion is called a Barbary lion and it is extinct, but you can still go see one run around and hear it roar. Wait, that doesn't make any sense? Right again. Just like there is more than one kind of lion, there is more than one kind of extinct. Truly extinct animals like the dodo are all dead and gone, but the Barbary lion is extinct in the wild, which means the only living animals are found in zoos not in the forests, mountains or deserts.

Mountain Gorilla

Now I'll make it even a little more confusing. This is a mountain gorilla and they are not extinct at all. You don't have to go to the zoo to see one. You could hop on a jet and fly to the mountains in the middle of Africa. The few mountain gorillas that still survive in the wild have to compete for food and land with humans who are farming and fighting on the edge of the forests where they live. That is why they are a critically endangered (not extinct) species. There are only about 700 of these gorillas left in the world. That's about the number of students at Littlebrook and Community Park.

Triceratops

This is one you already know a lot about, so I won't say too much about this extinct and pointy boy. I will say that those three sharp horns were not for fighting hungry toothy foes like t-rex. A lot of scientists now believe they were for finding a date. They are like the pretty red feathers on a male cardinal (that bright red bird we have flitting around Princeton). In other words, they didn't use their horns for poking things; they used them to look pretty.

African Elephant

This is another pointy creature, but this one is not extinct...yet. It is endangered, because people have destroyed a lot of their habitat. But the biggest problem is that some people would kill the giant plant eaters just to cut off their tusks and sell them. But the people who shot the elephants aren't the only ones to blame. The people who bought things made of the elephant ivory are just as responsible too. Most people don't buy things made of ivory anymore and the African elephant is making a pretty good comeback right now, but not everywhere.

Tasmanian Wolf

This is the most recent of the animals on the Dodo-Go-Round to disappear. The last poor wolf died in a zoo in Tasmania in 1936. Most of them were killed by hunters for reward money or by farmers to protect their animals. This was an extraordinary wolf. It had a pouch like a kangaroo and could open its mouth as wide as a rattlesnake. This wolf almost became the first extinct animal to be brought back to to life. A few years ago, scientists began to try and clone a brand new Tasmanian Wolf from some of the old dead wolves in museums. They haven't done it yet, but who knows. Maybe when you are older the Tasmanian wolf won't be extinct anymore. How amazing is that? Do you think they should bring dinosaurs back to life too?

Horned Tortoise

Now that's one angry-looking turtle. Well, maybe that's not fair. First of all, it's hard to smile when you have a beak. Second of all, tortoises aren't turtles. Well, even that isn't completely true (science can be a bit confusing sometimes). All tortoises are turtles, but not all turtles are tortoises. Sort of like all squares are rectangles, but not all rectangles are squares. Tortoises spend their lives on land and only go into the water to drink or take a bath. The last horned tortoise died 2,000 years ago. If one of these armored giants could have stood up on it's back legs it would be about as tall as Yao Ming (but sadly, their sharp claws made them terrible at dribbling...just kidding...about the dribbling...they did actually have sharp claws).

Giant Panda

We all know a good bit about this black and white bear, so I'll keep it simple but interesting. The Panda is not extinct, but it is most certainly endangered. The only place to find them is in China. Panda babies are not only absurdly cute, they are also the tiniest mammal babies in the world. When they are born, their mother is 900 times bigger! If that were true for you, your mom would be the size of a small school bus. Or, if your mom was the same size she is now, you would have to be born about the size and weight of a nickel.

Sivatherium

And finally, the giraffe-moose thingy. This is actually one of the great-great-great-great grandparents of the giraffes we know and love today. The last sivatherium lived in Africa about 8,000 years ago and some old cave paintings even show these shorter horned giraffes. They actually had two sets of horns: one larger set on top and a smaller set closer to the eyes. Giraffes today only have one smaller set of fur-covered horns on top. And giraffes have really grown "up" in the past 8,000 years too. Have your teacher hold her hand in the air. That's about as tall as big sivatherium. Now have your teacher stand on another teacher's shoulders. Then have those two teachers stand on another teacher's shoulders. Then still have your teacher reach up her hand and she might be able to scratch one of the furry horns on a modern male giraffe. They're big (giraffes, not your teachers).

Creepy Animal Museum (Warning: I'm not kidding, it really is a bit creepy. There are some graphic, but scientific images of people and a horse.)

2009-03-27T18:15:00.000+03:00

You don't have to travel back in time very far before things turn a bit different. When your parents were born they couldn't grow up dreaming about being a web page designer, because the internet didn't even exist. When your great-grandparents were born, they couldn't imagine being paid to fly planes through the great blue sky, because no one had ever built a plane before. Now what about your great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-great-grandparents? Imagine 4,000 years ago.

What jobs to think you could have then? Animals are awfully cute and cuddly Do you think you could be a veterinarian? Well, that is an incredibly long time ago, but, yes, you could have indeed been a vet.

Taking care of animals is one of the oldest jobs in the world. That's because animals and people have been living together for ages. Archeologists, (history experts who study very old people and places), have even found a 9,500 year old grave with a person and a cat buried together. And there's a dog and human sharing a grave from 14,000 years ago. Here's a weird one, guinea pigs were domesticated (turned from wild animals into farm animals) 600o years before turkeys.

Egyptians wrote about vets taking care of animals 4000 years ago, so that means someone had to be teaching people how to be a vet. And if there are teachers, there are schools. Now, none of those really old schools still exist, but there is one vet school that is is quite old. The oldest vet school in the world in fact. It is in Paris and we were lucky enough to visit it. At the school, vets have been learning how to take care of animals for 230 years. That's a long time to collect some really cool things that vet school students use (and I'm not talking about pencils and erasers).

Remember, there is no internet, so no Google and no Wikipedia. So students who want to see what a sick animal looks like, need to see actual sick animals. So people came up with ways of keeping dead animals so they didn't turn all smelly and disgusting. They dried the animals. They made models of the animals. Sometimes they even injected the dead animals with plastic to make special models that still exist even today. It's all a bit creepy, but cool.

Have a look!

Would you call this animal a "splamb" or a "lamider"? Well, it is a lamb with eight legs just like a spider, but it is still called just a lamb. The French actually have a name for animals with birth defects like this. They call them monsters. This lamb was also beside a lamb with two heads and just four legs. Most of these poor animals don't live very long.

They have more than just the animals themselves. They also have things they found inside of animals. All of you who have been 2nd graders know that we eat minerals and need those minerals to help our bodies be healthy. You also know that minerals are what make rocks. Well, sometimes those minerals you eat in your spinach, milk or cereal turn back into rocks inside of you. A little bit of something can get caught in your stomach or intestines or gall bladder and the tiny minerals can start sticking to it. And more minerals stick to those. And more minerals and more... All those minerals make a rock that is now stuck inside of one of your organs. The rock in this picture was found inside a horse's gall bladder. It is a little bigger than a football and weighs as much as a kindergartner. Ouch!

But not all the rocks are that big or that grey and ugly. The little rocks in this photo are beautiful pearls, but they didn't come from oysters. These pearls came from inside a COW!

I bet you thought cyclops was just a monster from old stories. Well, here is a real cyclops monster. This piglet was born with just one eye.

As not to scare anyone too much, I made these pictures small. If you're not scared, click on them to make them much larger.

Vet students aren't the only ones that needed models. Doctors needed them too. These are models from one of the best model makers who ever lived. He made these models more than 200 years ago and these are not fake models. They are real people (and that's a real horse) who are over 2oo years old. It is amazing to see how complicated our heads are. There are so many muscles, blood vessels, tendons, nerves, veins...

Surrounded by Science

2009-03-18T18:33:00.000+03:00

Not only am I lucky enough to be living in Paris right beside the oldest zoo in the world, I am also right beside several fantastic science museums. I will start this post with a little trip to the Grande Galerie de l'Evolution (Grand Gallery of Evolution). It's like France's version of the Smithsonian of Natural History. Lots of animal bones and models and excited school children not listening to their teachers. Their special exhibit right now focuses on whales, but you probably guessed that from the photo of the cool statue.

They don't call it the Grande Gallerie for nothing. It is a large and wonderful building.

Ravioli and friends (for those of you from Community Park, Ravioli is a giraffe and Littlebrook's mascot).

So you're in the ocean, you're hungry, but you forgot your fishing rod. What do you do? Well, if you're an anglerfish like this fellow, you're in luck, because you have a fishing rod attached to your head. I wonder if it ever accidentally tickles him when he is sleeping?

The rare uni-whale? Not quite. But it is a whale. If you look closely at this narwhal, you can see that the "horn" is not exactly centered. However, that is not a horn. It's actually a tooth. A left tooth to be exact.

Not only do some whales have big teeth, they have big mouths. In fact, a humpback like this one can open it's mouth and swallow a gulp of water the size of a big school bus. That would give Miss Frizzle and the gang quite a fright wouldn't it? So what does this enormous mouth eat? Tiny shrimp.

This little fellow has the opposite problem. He's got a big head and a tiny mouth, but it's just the right size for picking crabs off the ocean floor. He also has sharp teeth to crunch the hard shells and get to the delicious gooey middles.

This is called the Grand Gallery of Evolution, so here's a little evolution. Where did whales come from? Well, the first thing we would really call a whale didn't show up in the oceans until about 40 million years ago. Before that fossils show us that whales were having, well, a whale of a time adapting to their new watery world. Yep, new watery world. Their old world was dirt. Whales breath air. Still do. Always did. They came from animals that used to live on the land. About 70 million years ago, the bones from this creature above walked on land and swam around in the water to hunt for food, like a crocodile.

Jump ahead a few million years, and now this girl shows up. She spends most her time in the water. Her feet are more webbed like fins than feet.

And now we're only 40 million years ago again. This early whale had the big flat whale tail we all know. And it's no fluke. Ok it is a "fluke", so I'll have to say it is no accident. It uses the big paddle-like tail to speed it along through the ocean. Its two front legs are now full flippers to help it steer. So what happened to the back legs? Look below.

They are still there, but they are really tiny and useless. Some snakes have two very tiny bones that used to be their back legs too.

How many fingers does a whale have? Five of course. The two of you have so much in common.

No, that's not whale hair. Although whales do have short hairs all over their bodies. The long stringy parts are baleen. They act like giant colanders to sort out the things that are too big to eat and trap the small delicious things. Remember from the big-mouthed humpback before. Big mouthed whales eat tiny shrimp and such. Baleen is made from the same thing your fingernails are. They can grow back just like your fingernails. Now if we could find an enormous pair of toenail clippers and a very cooperative humpback, we could do a great experiment.

This what happens to bad panda bears in Paris. They lock them up in small glass boxes. Oh just kidding, that's a horrible idea. This is just a weird stuffed panda bear that does look like it is stuck in a glass box. Come to think of it. It's pretty horrible either way.

The end. Thanks for tagging along on this little field trip. Look below to see what's coming up in a future science field trip.

Yeah, it's what you think it is. A two-headed cow. Come back to the blog in a few days to the rest of this weird museum.

The Oldest Zoo in the World

2009-03-09T03:02:00.000+03:00

Imagine a small playful half-dog half-pig thing. That's my new favorite animal. It is called a bush dog and I found it at the zoo. Not the Madagascar zoo. A zoo in Paris. The oldest zoo in the world in fact. My wife and I are in Paris, France for 6 weeks while she works. We actually live next to the zoo and several science museums. How perfect is that? I will tell you all about Paris and show you around the really cool science sites here, but first the zoo. It's always good to start with furry animals. (By the way, the first furry animal you see is a bush dog...an adorable little bush dog.)

Click on the Movie to take a Tour of the Zoo

Deforestation...Reforestation

2009-03-04T13:32:00.000+03:00

A few weeks ago, I was lucky enough to be able to help replant some trees in Madagascar. I was volunteering for a day with Missouri Botanical Garden's Conservation Department. We drove a few hours northwest of our city, Antananarivo. The area is beautiful open country like eastern Montana, but it is not supposed to be so open. There should be a lot more trees and much larger forests. Trees are a very important part of this habitat. Insects, birds, mammals, reptiles and even other plants depend on them. But the trees are also very important to the people who live around here. Trees provide them with houses, charcoal for heat and cooking and materials for making products and crafts that may earn them some money. Most of the people in this part of the country are quite poor. Over half of them live on less than $1 a day. When everyone needs the trees, they cut them down and use them faster than new ones can grow, so the forests get smaller and smaller and smaller.

Many scientists from the island and all over the world are trying to make the forests grow again. It is not as simple as just saying, "You can't cut down trees anymore." Why not? [You may now pause to actually try and answer that with your class.]

Replanting trees in and around the small forests that are left is just one important step. That is what we are doing in the photos below. Can you think of some more steps that could be taken to protect the forests and the people at the same time? [You may pause again to answer this one as well.]

This is the small, very small, forest fragment we were trying to protect. The green is the forest, but most of the large trees have all been cut by a logging company who sold the trees. Unfortunately, that means the local people didn't even get to use the wood.

Here we are planting small trees. There about 20 of us and we each planted about 15 trees, so about how many trees did we plant?

This is a dangerous place for a little tree. For six months of the year it is very hot and wet and then the next six months are cold and dry. We used bamboo slivers to build teepees around each tree and then stuck fern fronds on the outside of the teepees to protect them from the drying sun and winds.

It was no accident that we used bamboo and fern fronds. They are both natural, and won't become trash when this is all over. They both grow very fast, so it is quite easy to grow and use more. Products like this are called sustainable, because they can be used by people without hurting the environment. Are the styrofoam plates and plastic forks and spoons in the cafeteria sustainable? Is there a solution to that problem? [The second to last pause to answer questions, I promise.] In the photo, some men are making bamboo slivers by simply hitting the dry bamboo stalks with hammers. It splits very nicely into long skinny pieces.

Bonus Question:

This area of Madagascar was never just one big forest. It always had some grassland. And on that grassland there were vast herds of large grass-eating animals. So what big grazing animal do you think it was?

[Click on the movie the find out the answer.]

Well, Which was the Weevil?

2009-03-04T11:46:00.000+03:00

The one on the left. But that's about as god as camouflage can get, so don't feel bad if you guessed the one on the right. It was a stick from the tree the weevil was found on.

The Latest Wildlife Find

2009-02-26T13:46:00.001+03:00

You never know where you might find interesting wildlife in Madagascar. It could be deep in a rain forest. It could be in a palm tree. The beach. On the porch maybe. Or you might find some wildlife in your soup.

While enjoying a bowl of curry coconut soup, my wife Cindy said, "What are all the black spices? They're tasty. Is it pepper?" Now I made the soup, so I know what all I put in it. There were a lot of ingredients, but black pepper wasn't one of them. The little black bits floated, so Cindy had been gleefully skimming them up with each spoonful. Our roommate, Swanni, and I looked at our bowls. We too had some non-existent black pepper floating on top of our creamy yellow soup. Then Cindy, as she was just about to slurp another delicious spoonful, saw something out of the corner of her eye, "I think the spice has wings!"

Well, she is a doctor, so we all had a closer look. After taking a few photos, we all agreed the "black pepper" did indeed have wings...as well as six legs and a pair of coconut-coated antennae.

Then we did the only thing a doctor, a soon-to-be doctor and a science teacher could do; we investigated and contemplated where the creatures came from...as we finished our soup and had some seconds.

Our conclusion? We believe the creatures to be weevils who were living inside of the peanut-like beans I used for the soup. I cleaned the beans before I cooked them and they seemed fine. But bean weevils like to live their entire lives in or on a single bean. The eggs are laid on a bean and then the larva chew their way in and spend the rest of their life in their comfy little bean home.

Sadly, during the cooking the weevils crawled out and met their unfortunate curried fate.

Photo 1: A delicious bowl of creamy coconut curry soup a la bean weevil.

Photo 2: The green things are thyme leaves. The black things...well, aren't.

Photo 3: Note the wings and legs on the "black pepper".

The Two-Headed Butterfly

2009-02-21T16:52:00.000+03:00

Here is a more close-up look at last week's two-headed butterfly. Double click it to make it even bigger. Most of you guessed which one was the real head, but image if you were a bird flying around looking for a meal and you say those two fake antennae twittering in the breeze. Add the eye-spot, and it's a tough call.

Important Update on the Butterfly, Feb. 25:

This butterfly is not just weird...it's an ALIEN! Just today, I received a message from my wife's office straight from one of the head conservationists (scientist who tries to protect plants and animals) . He said to keep a sharp eye out for an alien named Chilades pandava. Now to a scientist, an alien is not a three-eyed, two-headed green blob from space. An alien is any plant or animal that is growing where they don't belong. (Remember the garlic mustard that is invading our trail?) This butterfly is far from home. It belongs in southeast Asia, not in Madagascar.

In other places where it has become an alien invader, it has done a lot of harm to cycads. Wow! That's bad...but what's a cycad? Well, I'll tell you. They are tropical plants that look just like ferns and palm trees, but their not. They are cycads. They are some of the oldest plant species on the planet and this butterflies larvae find the leaves delicious. Too delicious. They eat so many leaves that the cycad can die.

Scientists are looking for natural ways to fight this alien. They did find a parasite that attacks and kills them, but it doesn't kill too many of them, because the alien butterfly larvae have bodyguards that keep them clean and safe. And how do they pay these bodyguards? With a nice sugary treat that oozes out of their backs. And who are these bodyguards? Ants, of course.

Here's one of the bodyguard ants doing her thing. Insects live in one amazing world don't they?

More Photos from Mahabo

2009-02-21T15:14:00.000+03:00

Here's a few more photos from the Mahabo research center. If you want to see them larger, just double-click them.

This isn't exactly Niagra Falls and this isn't exactly our Honeymoon, but it is a great big waterfall nonetheless. In Malagasy, it's called Chute Andriamamovoka (say that three times fast).
Some children stopped by after school one day and we played a few games. This is a rousing round of hot potato. We had no music, so one of us would count to ten instead. If it was one of us counting, we had to use French or Malagasy. If one of them was counting, they had to use English. Then we had to count backwards too. The teacher in me couldn't help it. I also used a lot of feverish hand motions and drawing in the sand to try and explain the game "Duck, Duck, Goose." It turns out they already knew the game. It was just called "Red Duck, Blue Duck."

Wading through a long, long stretch of flooded forest and wondering if all the warnings about leeches are true.

All I had to worry about was my camera getting wet. This family had a baby to keep dry. That's the pink lump on the woman's back.
They also had a dog, but he took care of himself.

Earlier in the week, we ordered two baskets from these local weavers in the village. They made these gorgeous baskets in a matter of days. The wraps they are wearing are called lambas.

One giant grasshopper.
And an even bigger spider. He lived in our bungalow and we were sure to make sure where he was before we crawled under the mosquito net for the night. He didn't move for days. When his legs stretched out, he was about as round as a softball.

The Indian ocean and a large dugout fishing boat used by the local villagers. It is made from a single tree, but they are now a thing of the past. There are no trees left that are even nearly big enough to make a boat from. The forest's have been damaged due to overuse and and an increase in needed farmland. You can't grow rice or taro roots in a forest, so the forests are cut and burned. It seems bad, but then again, if you were poor and needed to feed your family, I bet you might be willing to cut down a few trees.
A very big and very shiny beetle. Possibly a kind of click beetle, but I'm not sure.

A lizard of some kind that loved to hang out near our bungalow. That was fine with us. It just meant there would be less insects. We were just afraid the spider might eat her. Seriously.

Speaking of spiders, here's a hundred or so baby spiders emerging from a nest.

Chameleon or stick? Pretty good camouflage wouldn't you say? Look at the pointy nose.

Some More Wild (and Not-So) Life

2009-02-04T14:51:00.000+03:00

Here are 3 different insectivores from around town. Some creepy, some cute, but they all eat insects.

There's a lot of big crazy-looking spiders here. They're not nearly as cuddly as lemurs, so they didn't show up much in the movies. This is some sort of funnel spider, I think. Maybe some of you could do some research and see what you can find out.

What do you think the funnel or nest is used for?A very camouflaged chameleon hunting in the trees. Not only do they blend in with their color, they also blend in by moving very, very slowly. They even sway and wobble back and forth as they move like a leaf just blowing in the wind.

The are camouflaged from underneath too, but for a different reason. They are skinny to blend into the limbs. There are things out there that eat them too.

A little gecko that shares our porch. He's about the size of a nickel. Look at the big eyes for hunting and the camouflage to make sure his prey doesn't see him coming.

First Malagasy Wildlife

2009-02-02T10:00:00.000+03:00

I finally arrived here on the island last week. Sorry, but there were no A few interesting things have happened. The President of the country and the Mayor of the capital city where we live are having an argument. Not every country in the world has elections like we do in America to decide who is in charge. The President of Madagascar was elected, but the Mayor has decided he wants to be in charge, so told the country on Saturday that he is now in charge and they shouldn't listen to the old President. Some people are very upset and there has been some fighting and stealing and burning of buildings. But my wife, Cindy, and I are safe. All the people I have met have been very nice.

I have come across some very cool wild animals here in Madagascar, but so far they have all been in our apartment. Here are some photos of an amazing weevil that lives in our kitchen. My wife has named her Weevy. When she is scared (Weevy, not my wife), she curls up and plays dead for about 10 minutes. She also tries to hide, but instead of using camouflage she uses mimicry. That means she tries to look like some other kind of creature, like dressing up for Halloween. In the top photo, she is doing a toad impersonation. That dark spot on her head is not an eye. In fact, that isn't her head either. That first body part you see is her thorax. She also tucks her back 4 legs together, so they only look like 2 big legs. In the second photo, you can see her head. It is tiny, but her mouth isn't. That long pointy part is her proboscis she uses to eat grains and fruits.

I miss you all very much. And I will try to keep the photos and posts coming now that I am actually here in Madagascar. The internet is not very reliable here, so it may not be every day, but I will do my best.

P.S. If you want to comment back, please ask your parents to help. You have to have a Google account to comment. It is easy and free and only takes 2 minutes to set up. If you parents don't mind, please tell me who you are in your comment.

Answer to the Good Stupid Joke

2008-09-13T03:57:00.007+03:00

Because if it had 4 doors it would be a chicken sedan.

Who Is the Mr. Lebo You Speak of?

2008-09-13T03:23:00.000+03:00

Well, Mr. Lebo, is an elementary science lab teacher with Princeton Regional Schools. And Mr. Lebo is me...Mr. Lebo is I...I am Mr. Lebo. Right now I am on a leave of absence from the wonderful kids in Princeton, so that I can teach some new wonderful kids in Madagascar.

What's This All About Anyway?

2008-09-13T03:20:00.000+03:00

The Skinny on Madagascar

2008-09-13T01:20:00.000+03:00

Madagascar is a lot more than a movie. It is a wonderful place with marvelous people, but it is very different from Princeton (or everywhere else in the United States for that matter). The facts below will give you basics of the country, but please poke around the rest of the blog to get a real feel for the people, plants and animals of this fantastic island:

Madagascar is the fourth largest island in the world. (Can you name the top three?)
About 20 million people call the island home.
Look around and will find something new. About 80 percent of plants and animals cannot be found anywhere else in the world (the fancy science word for that is endemic.) That includes lemurs, but also strange bats, insects, lizards and trees too.
Madagascar has a lot of nicknames but the Red Island and the Bleeding island are the two big ones.
It is one of the 15 poorest countries in the world. Most people live on less than $2 a day.
Everyone speaks Malagasy. Most people speak French. And a tiny handful of people speak English.
The island split away from Africa about 160 million years ago, but it was still stuck to India. Then about 90 million years ago, it broke off from India too, so that makes it the oldest island on Earth.
People have only been living on the island for about 2,5oo years, so it is also one of the youngest islands on Earth too (New Zealand is the youngest).
Malagasy eat a lot of things, but it is almost always eaten on top of, beside or mixed with rice. They even eat it for breakfast.
They used to have kings and queens, but about 120 years ago the French came and kicked out the last queen. Then about 50 years ago, the Malagasy kicked out the French and now they have presidents.
The money is called ariary. One of your George Washington dollars is worth 2000 ariary here.
The capital is Antananarivo (that's where I live).
It is a tropical island, so snow is a pretty strange and rare thing. It does rain a lot though. There is a dry season and a wet season for most of the country.

Click on Map to Make it All Big and Pretty