Arabic - Hello and Goodbye

We've now learned a whole year of Hindi!
Wow!

Let's try another language now, how about Arabic?

This is the language spoken by hundreds of millions of people acros the world, mostly in Africa and Asia.

Arabic uses a different alphabet than English, called abjad.
It has 28 letters, and the vowels are just the consonants with small marks called diacritics above them.
Probably the biggest difference between Arabic and English is that it is written from right to left instead of left to right!

Let's learn how to say hello and goodbye in Arabic!

To say hello in Arabic you would say mrhaban, sounds like mah-dr-hah-ben 文A

In the Arabic letters it looks like this: مرحبًا

To say goodbye you say mae alsalamati, sounds like mah-ah-l-sah-lah-mah-ti 文A

In the Arabic letters it looks like this: مع السلامة!



(from: wikipedia - lebanese academy of sciences)

Hindi: नमस्ते (Namaste), अलविदा (Alavida)

Swahili: Jambo, Hujambo, Habari, Mambo, Shikamoo

Russian: Привет (privet), Здравствуй (Zdravstvuy), Пока (poka), до свидания (do svidaniya)

Norwegian: Hei, Hallo, Ha det, Ha det brah

Greek: Γειά σου (Geiá sou), Χαίρετε (Chairete), Αντίο (Antío)

ASL: Hello and Goodbye

Italian: Ciao, arrivederci

German: Hallo, Auf Wiedersehen

Spanish: Hola! Adiós!

French: Bonjour! Au Revoir!

Spotted-Necked Otter

We just learned about the Eurasian Otter.

Another animal in the same family is the Spotted-Necked Otter, also called the speckle-throated otter or hydrictis maculicollis.

This otter is a lot like the ones from North America or Europe, but it lives on the continent of Africa.
It grows to be about 75 centimeters long, weighting about 6 kilograms, and has white spots on its neck.

Spotted-Necked Otters live in countries like Zambia where they can hunt for fish and other animals in the lakes and rivers of Africa.


(from: wikipedia - spotted neck otter)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Zanzibar Red Colobus

Eurasian Otter

We just learned about the North American River Otter.

Another animal in the same family is the Eurasian Otter, also called the european otter, eurasian river otter, common otter, old world otter, or lutra lutra.

These animals live in parts of Europe, Asia and Africa and are the most common type of otter in the world.
They grow to about 40 centimeters long and weigh about 10 kilograms.

Just like the North American river otter, these animals live in lakes, rivers and ponds.
Unlike a lot of the other otters, these animals usually live alone, except for when mothers are raising baby otters.


(from: wikipedia - eurasian otter)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Mantled Guereza

Mantled Guereza

We just learned about the Mandrill.

Another type of Old World Monkey is the Mantled Guereza, also called the eastern black and white colobus, or the colobus guereza.

This type of monkey has black fur, with long white hair going on its sides and back, and white around its face.
They live in forests of Africa, and eats seeds fruits and bugs.


(from: wikipedia - mantled guereza)



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Mandrill

We just learned about the Collared Mangabey.

Another type of old world monkey is the Mandrill.

This type of monkey has grey or green fur, a very colorful red and blue face, and big sharp teeth.
Growing to around 82 pounds and 3 feet long, these are the biggest monkeys in the world.

These monkeys live in parts of Africa, and are omnivores meaning they eat anything from plants to animals.
Mandrills live in big groups of hundreds, sometimes 600 to 800 in one group called a "horde".
The male monkeys help protect the horde, and are so big and strong that they will even fight off leopards who come to try and attack the horde.




(from: wikipedia - mandrill)



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Olive Baboon

We just learned about the Uganda Mangabey.

Another type of old world monkey is the Olive Baboon, also called the Anubis Baboon, or Papio Anubis.

These monkeys live all over Africa, in forests, deserts, and grasslands.
They get the name Olive Baboon because their fur looks olive colored.
Their other name Anubis Baboon comes from the way their face looks kind of like the dog faced statue of the Egyptian Anubis.

Olive Baboons are a little over 2 feet tall and weigh about 50 pounds.
Usually they talk to each other using grunts, but if they get scared by another animal they might shout "Wahoo!" to warn everyone.

These baboons will eat just about anything, from plants and bugs to mice, birds, and other larger animals.
They will sometimes even go after sheep, goats and chickens from farms!

Some elephants and the baboons have learned to work together to survive.
Elephants will dig holes to get water, and baboons will be lookouts up in the trees to warn if there is danger coming.


(from: wikipedia - olive baboon)



Olive baboon troupe - Cameron Wares


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Andean Mountain Cat

L'Hoest's Monkey

We just learned about the De Brazzs Monkey.

Another type of monkey is the L'Hoest's Monkey.

This type of monkey is known as a guenon monkey, and it lives in the middle of Africa in an area called the Congo basin.
The live in mountains with forests, and have dark fur with a white fury beard.

These are small monkeys, only about 2 feet long and weighing around 13 pounds.
They spend most of their time in the trees, and even sleep in the trees.



(from: wikipedia - l'hoest's monkey)



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Patas Monkey

We just learned about the Allen's Swamp Monkey.

Another kind of Old World Monkey is the Patas Monkey, also called the wadi monkey, hussar monkey or erythrocebus patas.

This monkey lives on the ground in the areas of Africa called the Savannah, which is grasslands with some trees.
They grow to be about 2 feet long, and weigh about 27 pounds.
These monkeys can very fast, at 34 miles per hour they are the fastest of all the primates!
On their faces, these monkeys have what looks like a mustache.

When these monkeys live together, they are usually in big groups of all female monkeys, up to 60 females together, and sometimes no male monkeys.
Male monkeys will sometimes live in groups together, but usually they just live by themselves.

Some people believe that these monkeys with mustaches were the animals that gave Dr. Seuss the idea for the Lorax.
They live mostly by special whistling thorn acacia trees, that might have given him the idea for the truffala trees.



(from: wikipedia - patas monkey)



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Talapoin Monkey

We just learned about the Nomascus Gibbon.

Just like chimpanzees, gorillas, orangutans, and gibbons there are a few different types of monkeys.
Monkeys are grouped into Old World monkeys and New World monkeys.
There are 138 different types of Old World Monkeys.

The smallest type of Old World Monkey is the Talapoin.

Talapoin monkeys are only about 16 inches tall, and weigh about 3 pounds.
Their fur is yellow, black, grey and white.
These monkeys only live in one part of western Africa, around the country of Angola.

Most of the time these monkeys live in trees, but they are also good swimmers and will sometimes jump from the tree to water so they can run away from a predator.

For food they usually eat fruit, leaves or sometimes bugs.


(from: wikipedia - gabon talapoin)

(from: wikipedia - angolan talapoin)



Talapoin severní - Daniel Merhout


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Jaguar

Gorilla

We just learned about the Chimpanzee.

Another type of primate is the Gorilla.

A gorilla can grow to be 500 lbs and about 6 feet tall.
They have very long arms, and their arm span can be voer 8 feet long.
Most gorillas live to be over 35 years, and the oldest gorilla ever was 60 years old.

Gorillas can walk on their feet, but usually they do what is called knuckle walking, meaning they walk on all fours but using the knuckles of their handles.
They sleep in nests on the ground made of branches, and they eat leaves, fruits or sometimes bugs.

Grownup male gorillas get silvery grey fur on their back, which is where they get the knickname of silverbacks.
A family of gorillas is called a troop, and is usually made up of one adult male, a few adult females, and a bunch of young gorillas.
Young male gorillas are called blackbacks because they don't have the grey fur yet.
Once they get older they leave the troop and go try to find female gorillas to start their own troop.
Male gorillas help keep the troop safe from other gorillas and other animals that might attack the troop.

All gorillas live in Africa, and there are two different main types of gorillas, eastern gorillas and western gorillas.
There are four types gorillas: Western lowland gorillas, cross river gorillas, mountain gorillas and eastern lowland gorillas.

Most of these gorillas look a lot alike, but some have longer fur, red fur, smaller bodies or longer faces.
Gorillas are very smart and sometimes use tools like rocks or sticks.
They talk to each other using hoots, grunts, barks, screams and roars.
Some gorillas in captivity have even been known to learn sign language.





(from: wikipedia - gorilla)



Adorable Baby Gorilla - Rib Ticklers


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Swahili - Hello and Goodbye

We've now learned a whole year of Russian!
Wow!

Let's try another language now, how about Swahili?

This is the language millions of people speak in different countries across the continent of Africa, like Burundi, Congo, Kenya, Malawi, Mozambique, Rwanda, Somalia, Tanzania, Uganda, and Zambia.

Let's learn how to say hello and goodbye in Swahili!
There are a few ways to say Hello, Hi or What's up.

These words aren't used much anymore, but they mean Hello:
Jambo - Sounds like jah-m-boh 文A
Hujambo - Sounds like hoo-jah-m-boh 文A

Just like in English a lot of times we say things like What's Up to say Hi, Swahili has the same kind of things.
What's News? - Habari - Sounds like hah-bah-ree 文A
How's it going? - Mambo - Sounds like mah-m-boh 文A

If you are going to say hello to an older person or someone who is in charge like a teacher or a police officer, you use this word which means something like Greetings.
Shikamoo - Sounds like sh-ih-kah-moo 文A




(from: wikipedia - swahili language)

Russian: Привет (privet), Здравствуй (Zdravstvuy), Пока (poka), до свидания (do svidaniya)

Norwegian: Hei, Hallo, Ha det, Ha det brah

Greek: Γειά σου (Geiá sou), Χαίρετε (Chairete), Αντίο (Antío)

ASL: Hello and Goodbye

Italian: Ciao, arrivederci

German: Hallo, Auf Wiedersehen

Spanish: Hola! Adiós!

French: Bonjour! Au Revoir!

African Wildcat

We just learned about the Chinese Mountain Cat.

Another type of wild cat is the African Wildcat.

This cat lives in Africa & Asia.
It has grey or red fur, with black tufts on its ears, stripes on its face and legs, and a ringed tail.

The African Wildcat is a small cat, about 2 feet long and weighing about 10 pounds.
When it gets scared, it puffs its hair out to look bigger, but it usually hides out in the bushes.

We know that humans have kept cats as pets for a long time, and one time someone found ancient bones of an African Wildcat with a human, going back 9,500 years!



(from: wikipedia - african wildcat)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Jellyfish Bell

Sand Cat

We just learned about the Black Footed Cat.

Another type of wild cat is the Sand Cat, also called the Sand Dune Cat or the Felis Margarita.

Just like you might think from its name, this cat lives in deserts far away from water, in places like Africa and Asia.

It has sandy brown fur with some black stripes and spots, is about 2 feet long, and is about 7 pounds.
These cats have a flat wide head, with very wide ears sitting lower on their head than most cats, so they can better hear their prey moving under the sand.
Their ears are 5 times better than a normal cat, so they can hear from far away and sneak up on other animals.

On their paws, these cats have extra fur to help protect them from the heat and cold of the desert sand.




(from: wikipedia - sand cat)


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Black-Footed Cat

We just learned about the Jungle Cat.

Another type of wild cat is the Black Footed Cat.

This is a small cat that lives in Africa and has a brown fur with black spots and stripes on it.
These cats are less than 2 feet long, and weigh about 5 pounds.

Even though their name is black footed cat, the only bottom parts of their feet are black.




(from: wikipedia - black-footed cat)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: String Jellyfish

Battle on the Ice

We just learned about the Basilica of Saint-Denis.

Another part of early Christianity was the Battle on the Ice.

We learned before about some of the first groups of people fighting wars in the name of Christianity, called Crusades.
From the years 1200 through 1300 there were a lot more wars like this.

There were around a dozen different crusades through these years, and they fought all over Western and Eastern Europe, the Middle East, Western Asia, and even Northern Africa.

There was even a crusade that went into Russia and was fought on a frozen lake.
The Western church from places like Germany and France was fighting against the Eastern church in places like Russia.
In the battle the Russians won by a lot and Lake Peipus became a famous place in Russia where the Eastern church won an important battle.


(from: wikipedia - battle on the ice)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: The Golden Legend

Caracal

We just learned about the Serval.

Another type of wild cat is the Caracal, also called the Persian Lynx.
The name caracal comes from the Turkish words for "Cat with black ears".

This type of cat lives in Africa and Asia.
It has long legs, and long ears with black tufts on the end of them.

Caracals can be almost 2 feet tall, almost 3 feet long, and weigh about 40 pounds.
Their fur can be either light brown or red brown.

These cats are great jumpers, and can jump over 12 feet high!
Sometimes when they are hunting, they can jump into the air and catch a bird as it is flying by.

Long ago in ancient Egypt people used to keep caracals for pets to help with hunting.




(from: wikipedia - caracal)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Bathrocyroe Fosteri

Serval

We just learned about the Bay Cat.

Another type of wild cat is the Serval.

The serval lives in Africa, mostly in the southern part of the continent.
It is about 2 feet tall, and can weigh up to 40 pounds.
This cat has a head that is smaller than some of its other cat cousins.

Serval's have big ears, and yellow fur with black spots and stripes, and a black tipped tail.
The ears of a serval are probably the thing that makes them stand out the most.
They have black ears, with a white stripe right across the middle.
When they move their ears they can spin them all the way around from front to back.
Some people think that the colored ears that can move so well are one of the ways that servals can talk to each other, like giving signals about whether they are happy, sad or mad.

These cats have very long legs compared to their bodies, and they use them for jumping when they hunt.
They can jump over 6 feet in the air, and then pounce onto their pray like a mouse.




(from: wikipedia - serval)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Warty Comb Jelly

Cheetah

We just learned about the Clouded Leopard.

We learned a long time ago about how the Cheetah can run 75 miles per hour and has marks on its face to help block the sun.

The Cheetah is also called the acinonyx jubatus, and there are four different types of cheetahs in the world.

- The Southeast African cheetah lives in the countries in the southeast part of Africa like South Africa, Zimbabwe and Kenya, and is the one most people think of when talking about cheetahs. There are only about 5,000 of these cheetahs left in the world.
Some of these Cheetahs have long black stripes going down their back, and these are called "King Cheetahs". They are still Southeast African cheetahs, but they are different colored, kind of like the black panther.

- The Asiatic cheetah lives in the country of Iran, and there are only about 50 of them left in the world. Its fur is shorter than the African cheetahs.

- The Northeast African cheetah lives in countries in the Northeast part of Africa like Ethiopia, and there are about 950 left of them in the world. It looks a lot like the southeast African cheetah, but has darker fur and no spots on its back feet.

- The Northwest African cheetah lives in the Sahara desert, and looks very different from the other cheetahs. It has lighter fur almost white, and very few spots on its back and legs. There are only about 250 of them left in the world.

The cheetahs are amazing fast animals, but there are so few left of them in the world because of people hunting them.
Cheetahs only have a few babies per year, and sometimes they don't have babies at all so bringing back this wild cat takes a long time.
Lots of zoos and parks are trying to bring back cheetahs but it is a lot of work and takes years to try and save this cat from going extinct!

Southeast African Cheetah:




Southeast African King Cheetah:

Asiatic Cheetah:

Northeast African Cheetah:

Northwest African Cheetah:

(from: wikipedia - cheetah)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Blue Blubber 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

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)


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