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

Basenji

We just learned about the type of dog called Chow Chow.

Another type of dog is called the Basenji.
Basenji's are from Africa, and they are a very old type of dog going all the way back to the ancient pharoahs. There are paintings of these dogs sitting at the feet of pharoahs from over a thousand years ago.

The basenji's bark is different, and sounds more like a yodel or is sometimes called a barroo.

(from: wikipedia - basenji)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Dolphin

Striped House Snake

We just learned about the type of snake the Massasauga.

Another type of snake is the striped house snake, also known as boaedon lineatus.

This snake is found in Africa, and is found inside or near houses a lot where it eats up mice and rats that carry diseases and destroy food.
These snakes are not poisonous, so they are not harmful to humans and can be very helpful.
Lots of people keep these snakes as pets.

The word lineatus in the snakes name comes from the white line that goes down the snakes body.
They come in different colors too, black, red-brown or green.


(from: wikipedia - boaedon lineatus)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Australian Cattle Dog

Burkina Faso

We just learned about the country of Mali

Burkina Faso is a country on the north west part of the African continent.
The name of their country means honest people.

(from: wikipedia - burkina faso)

The flag of Burkina Faso has a red stripe above a green stripe, with a yellow star in the middle.
The red, green and yellow colors represent the continent of Africa all working together. They are called the Pan-African colors, and are found in some other African countries' flags.
The red is for the fight for freedom, the green for the riches from plants and land, and the yellow is the light of the fight for freedom.

(from: wikipedia - flag of burkina faso)

To drink in Burkina Faso you might have Bissap, which is like a tea made from flowers called Rosell.

(from: wikipedia - roselle (plant))

Ouagadougou (pronounced wah-gah-doo-goo) is the capital city in Burkina Faso.

(from: wikipedia - ouagadougou)

The dogon people are a group of people that have traditions where they dress up in masks and dance around.

(from: wikipedia - dogon people)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Ukraine

Kenya

We just learned about the African country of Morocco.

Kenya is a country in Africa on the Eastern border, right on the Indian Ocean.

(from: wikipedia - kenya)

The motto of Kenya is "Harambee" which means ""Let us all pull together".
The flag's colors are black for the people of the Republic of Kenya, red for the blood shed by the people who fought for their independence, green for the plants and the land, white for peace and honesty, and the shield for the defense of all things peace and honesty.

(from: wikipedia - flag of kenya)

A very common food in Kenya is sukuma wiki. It looks a lot like lettuce, and is often called collard greens.

(from: wikipedia - sukuma wiki)

President Barack Obama's father was originally from Kenya, before he moved to Hawaii for college.


(from: wikipedia - barack obama, sr.)

The second largest lake in the world is Lake Victoria, in Kenya.

(from: wikipedia - lake victoria)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Germany

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


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Lion

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

Antelope

We just learned about the Blue Jay.

An antelope is a type of animal that looks kind of like a deer or a goat.
There are 91 different kinds of antelope!

Most antelopes are very fast, have horns on their head, and live in Africa.


(from: wikipedia - antelope)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Camel Humps

Democratic Republic of the Congo

We just learned about the country of Egypt.

The Democratic Republic of the Congo (sometimes just called DR Congo) has the fourth most people of any country in Africa, and is the second largest by size.

(from: wikipedia - democratic republic of the congo)

To eat in DR Congo you might have Fufu, which is smashed up boiled yams, usually served with a dipping sauce like peanut soup.

(from: wikipedia - congolese cuisine)

Tshimanga "Tim" Biakabutuka from DR Congo played football at the University of Michigan.

(from: wikipedia - michigan wolverines)

Mount Nyiragongo in DR Congo is an active stratovolcano with a lava lake.

(from: wikipedia - mount nyiragongo)

The DR Congo has a very large rain forest that is a great natural resource. It is over 13,000 square miles!

(from: wikipedia - salonga national park)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Peru and Ecuador

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

Zimbabwe

We just learned about the African country of Burkina Faso

Zimbabwe is a country in the southeast part of Africa.


(from: wikipedia - zimbabwe)

The flag of Zimbabwe has seven stripes of green, gold, red, black, red, gold, green.
It has a white triangle on the left side, and in the triangle is a red star with a yellow bird.

The yellow, black, green and red are part of the shared pan-African colors of other African countries.
The green is for the plants and land, the gold is for the minerals like gold or iron that come from the ground, the black is for independence and the red is for the fight for freedom.
The star is for the fight for freedom, and the bird is for the history of Zimbabwe.

(from: wikipedia - flag of zimbabwe)

To eat in Zimbabwe you might have some meat sausage called Boerewors.

(from: wikipedia - boerewors)

There is an ancient city in Zimbabwe called Great Zimbabwe, where people can go to see the ruins of a very old place.

(from: wikipedia - great zimbabwe)

Some of the people of Zimbabwe use the horns of the kudu as a musical instrument.

(from: wikipedia - zimbabwe)

The two people who first created the boy scouts met in Zimbabwe. They both agreed that there should be a group to teach boys things about scouting, and they came up with many great ideas of how to do it. They later returned to their homes in England and America and started the boy scouts.

(from: wikipedia - zimbabwe)

Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Romania

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)



October PRIMATE of the MONTH: Mantled Guereza - Apes Like Us


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Oncilla

East Antarctica

We just started learning about Antarctica.

Antarctica is split up into two parts, Wast and East Antarctica.

The East part is the bigger part, and is sometimes just called Greater Antarctica.
It is closer to Africa and Australia, and the Indian Ocean.
The East and West parts of Antarctica are separated by a 2,000 mile long mountain range.


(from: wikipedia - west antarctica)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Forbidden City

Senegal

We just learned about the country of Senegal

Senegal is a country on the north west part of Africa, right on the Atlantic Ocean.

(from: wikipedia - senegal)

The flag of senegal is a green stripe, a yellow stripe with a green star in the middle, and a red stripe.
The green, yellow and red are the Pan-African colors that are shared by many other African countries to help join the countries together as one continent.
The green stripe and star are for hope, the yellow is for arts, learning and money and the red is for the blood of the people fighting for the country.

(from: wikipedia - flag of senegal)

To eat in Senegal you might have thiéboudienne, which is fish flavored with parsley, lemon, garlic and onions, then cookied with tomato paste and vegetables and served with rice.

(from: wikipedia - senegalese cuisine)

In Senegal the people use salt wells to help get valuable salt from the ground.

(from: wikipedia - sine-saloum)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Belgium

Lion Capital of Ashoka

We just learned about the Woman of Samaria by William Henry Rinehart in Washington DC, in 1859.

Most of the art we've learned about has been from Europe, the Middle East, or Northern Africa.

Let's learn a little about some art from the continent of Asia.

One of the oldest sculptures is the Lion Capital of Ashoka.

This was made around 250 BC in India.
At that time there was an emperor named Ashoka who wanted to have symbols of his kingdom spread across the country, so he had artists make large pillars with sculptures on top and put them all over.
There are about 20 pillars left that have not been destroyed, and the Lion sculpture is the one that has survived the best of all of the sculptures.

It is a very important symbol in India. It has been put on the national emblem, and the lotus flower shaped bottom base of the sculpture is on the national flag.


(from: wikipedia - lion capital of ashoka)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Lewis Chessmen

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

Chad

We just learned about the country of Senegal.

Chad is one of the larger countries in Africa, it is in the middle of the Northern part of the continent.

(from: wikipedia - chad)

The flag of Chad is three stripes, blue yellow and red.
The blue is for the sky, hope and water.
The yellow is for the sun and the desert.
The red is for the progress, unit and sacrifice.

(from: wikipedia - flag of chad)

To eat in Chad you might have smoked cooked alestes, which is a type of fish.

(from: wikipedia - alestes)

Clean water is not easy to get in Chad, so many people have to walk miles to get buckets of water to bring back to their town.

(from: wikipedia - chad)

The balafon is a type of musical instrument in Chad. It is a kind of wooden xylophone.

(from: wikipedia - balafon)


Kid Facts - Blast from the past: Iceland