Amazed!!!

Oct. 31, 2007

K's work up to date, 10/30/07

For the past 3 weeks, K. has been working on a research project about dolphins.  Here is her final draft: All About Dolphins The reason I wrote this report on dolphins and nothing else is that I do not know much about dolphins.  Also, I think that they are pretty and amazing. There it is!  A school of dolphins!  There is a very interesting fact about dolphin schools but first we must learn more about dolphins.  What are they anyway?  Fish, right?   After all, they live in the seas and rivers.  But no, they are mammals like you!  Mammals always feed milk to their young.  But unlike humans, the mother dolphins push the milk out instead of the baby sucking it.  Mammals are also warm blooded, which means that no matter what, its insides stay the same temperature.  Also, they do not lay eggs.  Dolphins are also whales.  In fact, most small toothed whales are called dolphins. There are over 50 kinds of dolphins, including Tucuxi, Encantador, Spotted, Boto, Bottlenose and White sided. Dolphins are not big or small—they are in the middle.  Most kinds are 6 feet long.  But sometimes, when the water pressure where the dolphin is swimming is very high, the dolphin is pushed into a smaller shape.  When a dolphin is born, it is 25-40 pounds.  Dolphins look very pretty.  They are rather long and are usually grey, but some can be pink or change colour.  Their skin is very soft because it falls off very often.  Soft skin can help the dolphin swim faster because the rougher the skin is the more it lags behind.  Some dolphins have only 8 teeth, while some have 140. Tucuxi dolphins have short beaks and about 140 teeth, while Botos have longer beaks and about 100 teeth.  All dolphins eat fish.  Some eat squid or small animals like crabs.  Dolphins live all over the world, even the Amazon River.  Some dolphins live in schools that have 1000 dolphins in them.  Dolphins can swim at 25 mph and can leap 20 feet, but the most interesting thing about them is their sonar system.  A dolphin uses its sonar by making a click and measuring how long it takes for its echo to come back.  The shorter it takes, the closer something is.  Just by using its sonar, a dolphin can tell a piece of aluminum from a piece of copper of the exact same size. Dolphins are very interesting animals.  It is easy to see why so many divers and scientists study them so much. Not bad for a first time.  She used a note card system, which worked very well.  She is putting together a bibliography, which I will include later on this week. God bless, A.H.

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Nov. 1, 2007 - Hello!!

Posted by trustingdaily

I saw you on the TX state blog. Are you still in Texas? If so, I would like to add you to my TX bloggers sidebar on my blog. That way I can keep up with my fellow TX bloggers better! Happy Blogging! Angela

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