The new lizard species. Do you see it?

In the African island country of Madagascar, a new lizard species was found. The chameleon called Brookesia Micra is big, or should I say small news. This remarkable lizard can easily fit on the tip of a match(shown below). The average adult length is about 2.9 centimeters from snout to tail. Sadly, with small size span comes small life span. Brookesia Micra only lives a couple of months likely due to tiny organisms and well, everything.
      Scientist believe the itty bitty size is due to "double"island dwarfism. Island dwarfism is when organisms shrink due to limited resources on islands. Why double? scientist think the dwarf species found on the madagascan resort of Nosey Be found its way to an islet in which it shrank even further.
         The small sizes if this newfound creature makes them extremely vulnerable to habitat destruction. I do wish we knew more about this incredible species but so far this is all or close to all the information we have on our reptilian friend.

                                                                 

By Kennedy S.

Fluffy Brown Bears

Bears live way up in the mountains of Alaska. Bears like to go deep into the forest. What bears do in there seems to be a secret. If we know what they are doing, then we will be able to help them. Lately many people are going have been going into they're home.

Bears come in all sizes and colors. Brown bears are also known as grizzly bears in different places. Pandas are black and white, polar bears are white and live in the snow. Bears are loaners which means that they don't like company even other kinds of bears. Loverd Byerd is a bear detective and watches them in a pan handle in Alaska.

When detectives want to film what animals are doing, ten they have to put a camera on them. They put it on to find out what the mysterious behaviour. Bears like to eat anything in sight. When they are tired, bears dig up dirt and fall asleep. The big secret is that they are with their family.

Cagebreak Rats Will Work To Free A Pal

People usually call someone a "rat" when they are not helpful and are giving up on somebody. But according to studies, rats will try to help out a friend in need, not just to have a playmate.

Now, I'm pretty sure I'm not as nice as a rat, but the studies say that rats will help out ONLY their buddies, like a NORMAL human. When they try to free their buddy they will open a trap door that will free their buddy on accident. Soon, they will purposely open the trap door.

In one experiment, Jeffery Mogli of McGill University in Canada made two trap doors, one with the rats' favorite food (chocolate chips), and in the other the stuck buddy in need. They free both in no exact order, and then SHARE the chocolate chips with the buddy they just freed! So that proves that the example of "rats" at the top is partly wrong unless the rat is not your buddy.

That's why they say rats are in a way like humans; they will help a FRIEND in need, but not some random dude, ( or rat! ). So if your family member or friend says "You're a rat!" They're wrong!

By Andre J.

A Look at Unlikely Friends

National Geographic has two videos about animals that were thought to fight with each other. A drug dealer had extra money to spend, so he bought  Baloo the black bear, Leo the lion, and Sheerkon tiger. The animals live in the habitat called "The Club House," and love to play, relax, and welcome visitors. These animals were rescued by cops and given to Noah's Ark.

Noah's Ark is a rehabilitation center just south of Atlanta. It's a special habitat that welcomes all species.

A worker at Noah's Ark thought if the cubs weren't rescued, then they would have died because the owner wouldn't be able to handle such mature animals. Now, the animals are loved and love being at Noah's Ark.

Baloo the bear wore a harness as a cub, and the owners didn't adjust the harness, get a new one, or take it off, so vets from Noah's Ark had to do it themselves. The harness was grown into Baloo's shoulders. Now, fortunately, Baloo is having a blast playing with his friends at Noah's Ark.

The one other "Unlikely Friends" episode I watched was with a baby elephant and a sheep. In 2008, in Africa, near Capetown, a wild baby elephant was orphaned. The workers at Shamwari are worried about the small elephant. The elephant is like a child. They have to be loved, and this animal lost its mom, so it is very shy and skittish. It took a while before the cub even took water at Shamwari.

Shamwari to the rescue! They found the elephant a friend, a sheep! The two animals don't get along at first, though. Within a day, the two animals went from chasing each other to playing happily. About three days after the two animals met, the elephant took milk. After feeling comfortable with the cub, they named it Hope.

You can watch the videos of "Unlikely Friends" in the below Herald posts.

Unlikely Friends

Albino Alligators — And Happy Birthday, Claude!

Today is Claude's birthday! He is 15 now. He lives in the Academy of Science. Claude is an Albino Alligator, a rare type of alligator, first discovered in 1987.

Today, Claude will get cupcakes made of gator chow. If you visit the Academy of Science from September 8 to 15, you can make a alligator insipered birthday hat, or design a birthday cake for Claude.

Information from: The Academy of Sciences and Crocsite

See What Animals See

Here is a website for seeing what animals see. The Museum of Animal Perspectives highlights videos taken from the backs of animals.

The site is curated by “video naturalist” Sam Easterson, who collects “animal-borne imaging,” point-of-view videos from alligators, bisons, armadillos, tarantulas, scorpions, and frogs. Then he adds or embeds it into Google Maps for geographical reference. For example, watching a snapping turtle normally involves staring at a lethargic hulk in the sun. But with a view from the snapper’s back, you see it cruise along the bottom of a lake, fend off a curious bass and paddle furiously for the surface and a breath of air. Below are a few videos from Mr. Easterson's "critter cam":

Navy Sea Mammals to Show Skill in Bay

Dolphins and sea lions are the marine mammals that are used by the Navy to track mines or waterborne saboteurs. To some people this might sound like a part from a James Bond movie, right? Wrong this has been going on for 40 years.

The Navy showcased this on Monday as a part of a statewide exercise simulating a port terrorist attack. Federal officials have looked back and have seen that these trained marine mammals have been used exclusively for military operations. Many trainers also developed relationships with these special animals.

Dolphins were in Vietnam and no mine ever exploded because of them. Fred Jolly manages a team of animal handlers from the Navy Marine Mammal Program that has come to San Francisco.

Animal's Myths: Here's the Truth

There is a myth that ostriches bury their head when they get scare. But the truth is they can't bury their heads because they won't breathe -- and they know not to do that.

Opossums have a myth that they can hang on tree branches. But the truth is they can't swing on tree branches because adult opossums are too heavy and baby opossums can only hang on for a second.

Toads, too, have a myth that if you touch a toad's wart you will get warts. But the truth is toads don't give warts when you touch a toad.

Birds have a myth that if you find a bird on the ground, having fallen from a nest, it will be disturbed. But the truth is some birds have a sense of smell.

Penguins have a myth that when penguins see a plane it will fall backward. But the truth is the penguin will be fine, but if the plane is too close the penguins will leave their nest.

By Brandon

Visiting California Academy of Sciences

Visiting the Academy of Sciences is a fun thing to do on a rainy day. Inside you can discover and and learn a lot of new things.

A few things I did was go to the planetarium, go in the aquarium,and go in "Rain Forests of The World". I liked everything except the the planetarium. I didn't like the planetarium because it was only about how the world was going to end, and because I didn't feel like i actually was in space. Otherwise, I liked the academy of science.
The academy of sciences is a "all day" trip. I went in the planetarium, the "Around The World Rain forest", and the aquarium. I was at the Academy of Sciences for about 4-5 hours and I only looked at about 1/3 of the Academy of Sciences.

Below is a video that I made about the Academy of Sciences. You can also watch it on Animoto.com.

Sounds from Around The World

This is Camryn P. , a new student from the state of Georgia. She transferred to our school when she moved here to San Francisco. This is her first Herald post and since she is new, she doesn't have an account, so she will be using mine to post an article. — Irene T.

Recently, we stumped onto a website called bzzzpeek.com. It features sounds from around the world. For example, if you click on a horse, it will show it in a pattern of different flags. When you click on whatever flag horse, it will make the sound that the country thinks the horse makes. — Camryn P.

Picture sources from Google images

Lemur Hero Tells About the Animals of Madagascar

In the beginning, Luke Dollar was sent to Madagascar to study about lemurs.

Luke Dollars wakes up at 5 a.m., but in Madagascar it is 2 in the afternoon. Luke said, "One of the lemurs was eaten by a carnivore called the fossa.'' So Luke likes studying lemurs.

At the San Francisco Zoo on Sundays you might see the ring tailed lemur in a sitting position. The ring tailed lemurs weigh 6 and 1/2 to 7 and 3/4 pounds with a head and a body length of 10 to 12 inches. Ring tailed lemurs live in south and southern Madagascar. At the zoo ring tailed lemurs eat fruits, leaves, flowers, bark, and sap. Ring tailed lemurs are social animals that in groups of 3 to 24. The estimated population for ring tailed lemurs are 10,000 to 100,000.

Luke Dollar studies lemur in Madagascar. If you would like to read more about Luke Dollar, go to this story on National Geographics.

Adorable Animals and a Web Resource

On the top are three pictures taken in the UK. You can see these on the BBC website BBC.com.

All you have to do is go to wildlife finder on their website. The dolphins on the left are short-beaked dolphins. The four monkeys are called Lutungs. And the funny looking gremlin monkey is a phayre's leaf monkey.

The BBC website is fun for little kids who want to learn math or solve riddles you can also dance with Foxy Dancer. You can research animals at their website.

Now, watch our wildlife video:

By: Rubina H. and A. J.

Wolfie Goes Home and the Marine Mammal Center

Wolfie is a seal at the Marine Mammal Center who has an infection in his left wrist joint. To help him they had to remove all the dead bone to help him. They solved the problem because a volunteer donated an Agee Wristjack. Wolfie is now healed and uses his bionic flipper to help him slide and swim.

The Marine Mammal Center lets any teenager from 14 to 18 volunteer.

This is a picture of Wolfie and a wild sea lion. Wolfie is the one with the tracking device on the back oh his head.

Watch this video of Wolfie being greeted by a wild sea lion during his release back to his wild ocean home.

Here is another slide show to embed with your story:

Cleaning San Francisco

We need to help our community by reducing, reusing, and recycling "The Three R's."

We need to help our neighborhood by picking up litter and not littering.

We need to clean the beaches and help when there are oil spills so animals can live in a nice habitat. Why don't people understand there not the only living things on Earth? People should clean up after themselves or help their community. Even though animals come from shelters their not rabid. You shouldn't just abandon an animal when you take an animal you're taking a big responsibility. This image is from Google when the oil spilled into the ocean.

By Rubina and Anya

Americas Problems

What bothers me about San Francisco is all the trash on the street. Also, it's not just in San Francisco — its all over the world!

What bothers me about the United States is all the stray animals.Why do people not love their pets as they age ,then they just give them away their pets or just throw them on the street!

Photo credit: Google images

The Beauty of Birds and Art

http://www.birdbook.org/

This week most of our interactions with birds will come courtesy of Thanksgiving dinner. But we urge you to check out some other feathered creatures at the simply gorgeous Birdbook, an elegant site dedicated to Bird, Andrew Zuckerman’s recently released book of photography.

Zuckerman and a team of bird specialists enticed the inhabitants of several aviaries to swoop, soar and posture in front of a simple white sheet. The result is startlingly vivid and lifelike shots of birds outside their normal environments, which makes for a wild visual experience. With each of the 87 entries (from African Fish Eagle to, yes, Wild Turkey) comes helpful information such as genus, height and wingspan, plus most of the entries include each bird’s personalized call. The pictures even seem to capture a bit of bird personality: a Red-legged Seriema stalks through its shot; a puffed-up Great Horned Owl regally poses; a Golden Eagle glares (rather vengefully) at the camera. Game, on.

How Do Kangaroos Bounce?

Read this article on the BBC website, and watch the associated  video. What are scientist learning about how kangaroos bounce? Take screen grabs of the video to help tell your story.

Pick and Then Write About An Animal

Pick an animal, and then report on it using the National Geographic Kids site.

Remember to include links and image, as well as sources

Extreme Sheepherding with LED Lights

Student: Anya

As an occupation, shepherding seems like it might get a little dull. But not for these Welsh hill-farmers, who debut, in this Web video, a new kind of herding that’s more about art than agriculture.

With the help of some enthusiastic collies, these Welshmen have created a special kind of precision-herding in which the sheep, bearing by turns LED lights and dyed wool, are choreographed into large-scale patterns and photographed for stop-motion animation from a nearby hill. The results are surprising, emergent works of art—there’s a giant sheep taking a stroll, an epic game of Pong and, almost unbelievably, probably the strangest rendition of the Mona Lisa ever created. They’re also proof that our woolly friends can be put to better use than the manufacture of yarn for holiday sweaters.

Write a story about this video. Also, give some explanation about sheepherding and why this would be difficult to do. What skills do you think it involves? Any math? Any science? Also, explain words or elements like Pong. What is it?

Include several screen grabs to show the process of doing this extreme sheepherding.