Sea Otter

We just learned about the Asian Small-Clawed Otter.

Another animal in the same family is the Sea Otter, also called Enhydra lutris.

Just like you would think from their name, these otters spend most of their lives living in the sea.
They are able to go walk on land, but they are so good in the water they can just live there without ever going on land, even for sleeping!

Sea Otters live in the cold waters of the northern Pacific Ocean.
They are about 1 meter long, weigh about 30 kilograms, and are the heaviest of any of the animals in the weasel family.
They eat a lot of things like clams that they need to break open, so they have learned to take rocks and smash them on the shells to break them.

Most of the animals that spend time in the cold ocean waters have thick fat called blubber in their body, but these animals just have the thickest fur of any animal in the world, and that helps keep them warm.
Sea Otters can close up their noses and ears to keep water from getting in while they are swimming around.
Even when they are not swimming they can float, and sometimes they will snuggle up together with bunches of other otters and that is called a "raft" of otters!
They can hold their breath for five minutes, and sometimes to keep from floating away they will wrap themselves in kelp.



(from: wikipedia - sea otter)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Collared Mangabey

Olfactory Bulb

We just learned about the Olfactory Receptor Neuron.

Another part of how noses work is the Olfactory Bulb.

This is a part of the brain right in the front that takes the messages from the Olfactory Receptor Neuron.
The neuron sends messages to the bulb, and the bulb figures out what the smells mean and sends those messages to the rest of the brain so you know what you are smelling.


(from: wikipedia - olfactory bulb)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Limitless Replication

Montserrat

We just learned about the country of British Virgin Islands

Let's learn a little about the country of Montserrat!

This country is in Caribbean.
It is about 102 square kilometers, and about 4,600 people live there.
The people in this country speak English and Irish.


(from: wikipedia - )

The flag of Montserrat is blue, with the British flag in the upper left. On the right is a woman named Erin who stands for Ireland, holding a harp and a cross to honor the Irish people who moved there.


(from: wikipedia - flag of montserrat)

To eat in this country you might have goat water, which is a type of stew made with goat meat and spices.


(from: wikipedia - goat water)

Visiting this country you might go see Soufrière Hills, which is an active volcano that has erupted many times and destroyed many parts of the island.


(from: wikipedia - soufrière hills)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Wales

Down to the River to Pray

We just learned about the Christian song Were You There.

Another famous Christian song is Down to the River to Pray, sometimes also called Dotn in the River to Pray, Down in the Valley to Pray, The Good Old Way, or Come Let Us All Go Down.

This is another very old song, that was first put into a song book around 1867 in America.

No one knows who first wrote this song, but it was sung by African Americans who sang songs about God and Jesus while they were slaves.
Before the civil war happened, people had slaves in the southern parts of America.
There were people in northern part of Americat that wanted to get rid of slavery.

In the south the bad people would argue that African Americans weren't actually even human.
So some northern people went down to southern slave plantations and wrote down a bunch of the songs that the slaves were singing, just like this one.
They put the songs into a book called Slave Songs of the United States, and printed the book for everyone to read.
In that way they showed that African Americans weren't just people, but God loving Christian people that needed to be saved from slavery.

Lyrics:
As I went down in the valley to pray, Studying about that good old way,
When you shall wear the starry crown, Good Lord, show me the way.
O mourner, let's go down, let's go down, let's go down,
O mourner, let's go down, Down in the valley to pray


(from: wikipedia - down in the river to pray)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Holy Holy Holy, Lord God Almighty

The Last Judgement - Sistine Chapel Altar - Michelangelo

We just learned about Michelangelo's painting of Jesus' Ancestors on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel.

Another famous painting by Michelangelo wsa The Last Judgement.

This is also at the Sistine Chapel, but is behind the altar.
Just like the ceiling at this chapel, it is a huge painting with over 300 people in the painting and lots of different things going on in the painting.

The painting tells the story of the Second Cominng of Christ when the Bible says that God will come down from heaven some day.
It took Michelangelo over 4 years to finish, some time around the year 1541.

The left side of the painting shows good people that are going up to heaven.
The right side of the painting shows bad people that are going down to hell.
In the middle of the painting are Jesus and his mother Mary.


(from: wikipedia - the last judgement (michelangelo))


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: The Gates - Christ and Jean Claude

Hindi - Thursday, Friday

We just learned that Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday in Hindi is सोमवार (somavaar), मंगलवार (mangalavaar), बुधवार (budhavaar).

Let's keep learning the days of the week!

Thursday - गुरूवार - (guroovaar) sounds like goo-droo-vah-dr - 文A

Friday - शुक्रवार -(shukravaar) sounds like shuh-krah-vah-dr - 文A



(from: wikipedia - devanagari)

Swahili: Alhamisi, Ijumaa

Russian: Четверг (Chetverg), пятница (Pyatnitsa)

Norwegian: Torsdag, Fredag

Greek: Πέμπτη (Pémpti), Παρασκευή (Paraskeví)

ASL: Thursday, Friday

Italian: Giovedì, Venerdì

German: Donnerstag, Freitag

Spanish: Viernes, Jueves

French: Jeudi, Vendredi

Making Oil

We just learned about the Chrome Browser, and a lot of other things about Computers!

Let's learn a little about something else.

One of the things that is used a lot in our world is Oil.
We use oil to create gasoline for cars, but also to make moving things slippery.
Oil is also used for things like making plastics, or even things like bubble gum and toothpaste.

But how do we get toothpaste from the sticky dark oil in the ground?
The way that we get oil out of the ground is called refining.

The oil refineries take the sticky dark oil, and turn it into many different types of oils that can then be sold for use in cars, plastics or other things.


(from: wikipedia - petroleum refining processes)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Oil Filter