Clouded Leopard

We just learned about the Snow Leopard.

Another type of cat is the Clouded Leopard.

This cat lives in the himalayan mountains in Asia near China.
There are not many of these cats left, with only about 10,000 of them around.
The clouded leopard and sunda clouded leopard are actually two different types of cats, but are very difficult to tell apart other than where they live, as the sunda lives in Borneo and Sumatra.

These cats have dark grey fur, with black and dark blotched spots on them.
They have black ears and some stripes on their face and shoulders.

The clouded leopards are much smaller than other leopards, weighing only about 50 pounds, and being less than 4 feet long.

Because these cats live in the mountains, they are great climbers.
They can even climb down a tree head first, hanging on with their back paws wrapped around the tree.
These cats are also great jumpers, and can easily jump over 4 feet high.






(from: wikipedia - clouded leopard)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Nomura's Jellyfish

Snow Leopard

We just learned about the Black Panther.

Another type of big cat is the Snow Leopard, also called Panthera Uncia.

This is a big cat living in the mountains in Asia, mostly in China.
There are not a lot of these cats left, less than 10,000 in the world.
They live up in the mountains at elevations around 10,000 feet above sea level.

A snow leopard's fur is white and grey with black spots on its head and neck, with rosettes on its fur.
It has a bushy tail, a white belly, and eyes that are green or grey.

Because the snow leopard lives in cold places, it has longer fur than other leopards, and short ears that don't get too cold.
When it sleeps it can use its bushy tail as a coat, and it has big nostrils to help bring in a lot of fresh air to keep it warm.
These cats have very big paws to help it walk on snow like snow shoes, with fur on the bottom to help them keep their grip on rocks.

They are about 2 feet tall, 5 feet long, with a 3 foot tail and they weigh about 120 pounds.
Snow leopards can grunt and meow, but they can not roar like other big cats because of a difference in their throat.





(from: wikipedia - snow leopard)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Moon Jellyfish

Black Panther

We just learned about the Leopard.

Another type of Wild Cat is the Black Panther.

The black panther is not really a different type of cat, it is just a different color of cat.
Both the leopards that live in Africa or Asia, and the jaguars that live in the Americas can be born with black fur.

For a long time people thought this was a whole different type of cat, but scientists figured out later that they were just the same cats with different fur.

Sometimes leopards or jaguars can have fur that is totally black, and other times just part of their fur is very dark but you can still see spots on the other parts.





(from: wikipedia - black panther)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Flower Hat Jellyfish

Leopard

We just learned about the Jaguar.

Another type of wild cat is the Leopard.

Leopards are also part of the Felidae family just like lions, tigers and jaguars, and they are part of the smaller family of panthera just like the jaguar.
They live in the southern parts of the African and Asian continents.

Leopards can grow to be over 6 feet long, and weigh 200 pounds. They have a super long tail that can be 3 feet long.

There are a bunch of different types of leopards, usually living in different places like the African leopard, Indian leopard, Javan leopard, Arabian leopard, Persian or Anatolian leopard, Amur leopard, Indochinese leopard, and Sri Lankan leopard.

The leopard looks a lot like it's cousin the jaguar, but it is usually smaller and the rosette spots on its fur are usually smaller.
They can live in different areas, like grasslands, woodlands and rain forests.

Leopard cubs can live with their mothers for about 2 years before they go off on their own, and boy leopards usually live all by themselves.

On a leopard's ears and tails are white tufts of hair, and people think that the leopards can use those to talk to each other.
So if a leopard flicks it's ears or tail it might be trying to tell another leopard something like "get away" or "follow me".





(from: wikipedia - leopard)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Crystal Jelly

Jaguar

We just learned about the Tigers.

Another type of wild cat is the Jaguar.

This is the third biggest kind of cat after the lion and tiger.
It can grow to be about 350 pounds, and six feet long, with a 2 foot tail.

They have spots all over their body, with different sizes and shapes.
On their head, feet and belly, their spots are mostly just all black.
Their bodies have things called rosettes, which sort of like rose shaped black marks that are darker brown in the middle, and sometimes have a dot in the middle.
Other than their spots they have brown heads, backs and legs, and their belly area has white fur.

Jaguars live in Central and South America, but don't usually come as far north as the United States.

Just like a tiger, jaguars usually live by themselves.
Baby jaguars will live with only their mother for about 2 years and then they go live by themselves.
They can live to be around 12 years in the wild, and if they are taken care of in a zoo they can live over 20 years.

Jaguars are strong swimmers, and can even hunt things like Caimans that live in the water and are like an alligator.




(from: wikipedia - jaguar)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Upside Down Jellyfish

Tigers

We just learned about Lions.

Another big cat is the Tiger.

The tiger is the largest of the wild cats in the group of animals called "Felidae".

Tigers mostly live by themselves, except for the mothers when they are raising tiger cubs for about 2 years.

There are a lot of different types of tigers from different places.
Some have darker or longer fur, some are a little bigger, and some have stripes that look a little different.
Just like lions, there are also white tigers!
All the different tigers are in a group called "Panthera".

Tigers have stripes so that they can hide in the tall grass when they are hunting for other animals.
They have yellow irises in their eyes, and circle shaped pupils.

Boy tigers can grow to be 12 feet long, and weigh 675 pounds! Girl tigers are smaller, only growing to 9 feet and 360 pounds.
Their tails can be 2 to 4 feet long!

Tigers used to live all the way from the country of Turkey in the west to Japan in the east.
Now it mostly only lives in parts of India and China and a few other countries.
Tigers usually live in forest areas where there is water and other animals for them to hunt.

Even though we think about cats not liking water, tigers have no problem swimming, and can swim 18 miles in one day!






(from: wikipedia - tiger)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Crown Jellyfish

Lion

We just learned about Cats.

The big cat known as the king of the jungle is the Lion.

Lions mostly live in Africa, but there are also some in the Middle East and Europe.

Lions are big cats that are part of the "Felidae" family.
The male lions have a big mane, and all lions have a hairy fluff of fur at the end of their tails.
They are usually 6 or 7 feet long, and they can weigh over 300 pounds!

Lions live together in a family that is called a "pride".
A pride is usually a few grown up males, then some females and little lion cubs.
When the little lion cubs are about 3 years old, the boy lions are sent off to live on their own, and the girl lions stay with the pride.
When boy lions are out by themselves, sometimes they will group together with a few other boy lions until they find a home where they join a new pride as a grown up male lion.

Lions can make a lot of sounds like purring and meowing, but they are best known for the lion's roar.
It is so loud that it can be heard up to 5 miles away.

There is one type of lion called a white lion, that has white or very light colored fur.







(from: wikipedia - lion)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Purple Striped Jelly

Cats

We just learned about Jellyfish Ephyra, and a whole lot of other things about Jellyfish!

Let's learn a little about Cats, like the big tigers, lions and cheetahs.

The big cats in the world all belong from the same family of animals called "Felidae"
All of the Felidae cats have retractile claws, which means they can pull their claws back into their paws or push them out to attack.

They all have whiskers on their cheeks and above their eyes.
Their tongues are all rough with little sharp spikes on them, so they can brush their fur with their tongue.
They can all meow, hiss, snarl, growl and of course purr. Even big tigers and lions!



(from: wikipedia - felidae)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Jellyfish

Jellyfish Ephyra

We just learned about the Jellyfish Polyps.

Another part of a jellyfish is the Ephyra.

After the polyps grow for a little while, they start to grow parts that look more like a jellyfish.
It starts to get a bell shape, grow some tentacles and even mouth parts.
Eventually it floats away and is like a mini-jellyfish, not quite grown yet.

This part of the jellyfish's life is known as the Ephyra.

Later on it grows up a little more and is called a Medusae, which is the science word for the jellyfish species.


(from: wikipedia - ephyra)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Radula

Jellyfish Polyps

We just learned about the Amebocyte that lives inside a jellyfish.

Another interesting thing about Jellyfish is the Jellyfish Polyps.

When Jellyfish have babies, they are usually like little tubes that just float in the water and try to find something to stick on to.

They look a lot like other hydrozoans and even coral when they are growing up.
These little baby jellyfish are called polyps.


(from: wikipedia - polyp)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Octopus - Three Hearts

Amebocyte

We just learned about the Velarium.

Another part of a jellyfish's body is an Amebocyte.

These are teeny tiny little animals that live in a jellyfish's body and will help eat up junk that the jellyfish doesn't want to eat.
Some of them look like tiny little crabs or clams.


(from: wikipedia - amebocyte)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Statocyst

Velarium

We just learned about the Jellyfish Statocyst.

Another part of some jellyfish is the Velarium.

For the box jellyfish, underneath the edge of the bell on the inside it folds in, kind of like a little shelf.
This makes it so that when they squish their bell to swim, it makes it like a torpedo and pushes water out faster than normal.

Because of this these are the fastest jellyfish in the world, and we already know they are one of the most dangerous because of their sting!
They can swim up to 20 feet per minute.
That's still not even one mile per hour, but for a stinging jellyfish that's pretty quick.


(from: wikipedia - box jellyfish)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Cephalopod Skin

Jellyfish Statocyst

We just learned about the Ocelli.

Another part of a jellyfish's body is Jellyfish Statocyst.

We've learned about the Octopus Statocyst before, and it's pretty much the same thing.

The jellyfish has a small sac in it's body, with small hairs on the inside, and a hard ball inside.
When the jellyfish moves around, the ball rolls around and touches the hairs.
These hairs tell the jellyfish which way is up or down and which way they are swimming.


(from: wikipedia - statocyst)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Cephalopod - Cirrus

Ocelli

We just learned about the Rhopalium.

Another part of a jellyfish is the Ocelli.

In the parrs of the jellyfish's bell where it dents in called the rhopalium, sometimes a jellyfish will have eyes called the ocelli.

They are very simple and do not have a lot of parts like human eyes, but they can sense some darkness and light, and use that to swim toward or away from something.


(from: wikipedia - carybdeida)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Cephalopod Eyes

Rhopalium

We just learned about the Lappet.

Another part of a jellyfish is the Rhopalium.

Remember we learned about the lappet that goes the bell and dents in on some spots.
The part where the bell dents in toward the middle is called the Rhopalium.

In these rhopalium are things that jellyfish can use to sense light and movement.


(from: wikipedia - rhopalium)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Cephalopod Suckers

Lappet

We just learned about the Nerve Net that is like a jellyfish's brain.

Another part of a jellyfish is the Lappet.

The circle shaped bell of a jellyfish is sometimes split up into parts by a small indent on the outside of the bell.
This little part where the bell dips toward the middle helps the jellyfish bell be able to flex and pull in and out so the jellyfish can swim.

Each of the parts of the outside of the bell between the indents is called a lappet.


(from: wikipedia - aurelia aurita)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Cephalopod - Tentacle Hooks

Nerve Net

We just learned about the Jellyfish Stomach.

Another part of a jellyfish's body is the Nerve Net.

In humans, our nervous system is our brain which is in charge of the rest of our body, and then our spinal cord and nerves that sends messages back and forth to the brain.

In most jellyfish, they have a nerve net which is kind of like the nerves we have all over, but without the spinal cord or a brain.

The nerves are all hooked together, and if a jellyfish senses something near by the nerve net can send messages all over it's body for the whole jellyfish to swim or try to pull in it's oral arms.
But it doesn't really have any thinking to it, it is just a very quick and simple reaction to a feeling.

It's kind of like if you touch something really hot, your hand very quickly pulls away without really thinking about it.
But if you were like a jellyfish, then your hand would touch something hot but your whole body would pull away, arms, legs and all!


(from: wikipedia - nerve net)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Cephalopod - Arms and Tentacles

Jellyfish Stomach

We just learned about the Nematocysts.

Another part of a jellyfish is the Jellyfish Stomach.

We learned before about the oral arms that bring the food to the stomach, and the manubrium which is both the way a jellyfish eats and also gets rid of waste.

When a jellyfish gets food into it's stomach, it uses things called enzymes to slowly digest the food until it is all liquid, and then it sends it off to all the parts of the jellyfish's body.

After the good parts of the food are all used up by the jellyfish's body, the liquid is sent back to the jellyfish's stomach, and then pushed out of the manubrium so it is empty again.


(from: wikipedia - jellyfish)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Cuttlebone

Nematocysts

We just learned about the Tentacles of a jellyfish.

Another part of a jellyfish is the Nematocyst.

This is the part of the jellyfish that stings its prey, or even stings a person.

They are almost like traps on the jellyfish's tentacles that just wait until they get touched a tiny bit, and then they shoot out and then squirt toxins into their prey to stun them or kill them.


(from: wikipedia - cnidocyte)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Chromatophore

Tentacles

We just learned about the Oral Arms of a jellyfish.

Another part of a jellyfish is the Tentacles.

These are the arms that hang down from the edge of the big circular bell of the jellyfish.
The tentacles have stingers on them that help them catch prey, and then the oral arms help bring them up to their manubrium mouth.


(from: wikipedia - jellyfish)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Cephalopod Ink