KOALA BY RILEY

Imagine you are having a good time in Australia and you decide to go out looking for a koala. You look all day. All you see are gum trees (eucalyptus trees) and leaves. Then you see one. It looks like a small, grey bear with a white chest. You run for it. Then it runs to a gum tree. The koala zips up the tree even though they are normally slow. That’s rare to see because koalas sleep 18 hours a day, and normally never come down.

What are koalas?
Koalas ` scientific name is long, it is phascolarctos cinereus. That means “ash colored pouch bear.” The reason it is “pouch bear” is because the koala is a marsupial, and all marsupials have pouches. Koalas look like small grey bears with white chests and black eyes. They have great camouflage, so good luck spotting one in a eucalyptus tree. They are slow and asleep most of the day, about 18 hours a day. The reason they are so lazy is because of the eucalyptus, the leaves they eat, have very low energy, so the koala gets almost no energy. Koalas are quiet animals, and don `t move a lot, because of their low energy. Koalas are closely related to opossums and wombats.

Where do koalas live and what do they need for survival?
Koalas essentially need eucalyptus trees and leaves to survive. They live in the middle of the eucalypts trees, also known as gum trees. They are herbivores, which means only they eat plant life (unlike carnivores that only eat meat and omnivores, which eat plants and meat.) Eucalyptus leaves and bark are the main food for the koala. However, they sometimes eat soil to strengthen their stomachs.
Koalas nest, mate, and reproduce in the eucalypts tree on the branches. Koalas are only found in the tropical climate of eastern Australia, which is hot in the day and cool at night, and is the only place where the eucalypts tree naturally exists.

How and why Koalas are threatened?
The koala is endangered for three main reasons: wild fires and the threat of being eaten. The wildfires start from lightning to camp fires that are not put out all the way. The trees that burn are eucalyptus trees, the koalas ` only natural food and habitat. There are oils in the trees ` leaves that are very flammable, like birch bark. It also gets really hot in the Australian summer, which can contribute to the fires. Fast cars also run over koalas sometimes. Koalas are also threatened as they can get eaten by dingoes, foxes, large snakes, domestic dogs, cats, wedge tailed eagles, and owls.

Range and population
Koalas are threatened and there are very few of them left. There are only 100,000 of them left in the world. Koalas only live in eastern Australia so their range is very limited.
Solutions
To help the koala, we should lower the speed limit because speeding cars one of the main killers of the koala. I think that people should build a plant nursery for eucalypts trees that could be planted in eucalypts tree woodlands because there is only one tree for one koala and it helps the koala with lack of food. We also should make all of eastern Australia conservation land. You con help the koala by donating to sites to help the koala like World Wildlife Federation. So help the koala!!!!

Bibliography
Arnold, Caroline. Koala. New York: Wlliam Marrow Wand Company, Inc, 1987. Print.
Hildyard, Anne. “Koala.” Wild Life and Plants . 3rd ed. 2007. Print.
Leach, Michael. Natural World: Koala. Austin : Raintree Steck Vaughn Publishers, 2003. Print.
“Phascolarctos cinereus — Details Koala.” EOL Encyclopedia of Life. EOL, n.d. Web. 11 Dec. 2011.

California Condor — Emily

Imagine you are climbing on a mountain with many small caves. All of a sudden you see a huge shadow almost bigger than you. No need to panic, it is just a California Condor coming home from a very long day of looking for food.You may even be standing in front of his cave, but he will never hurt you, for he is more scared of you than you are of him.

Names
The California Condor has about three names it can be called.The most common name is obviously the California Condor. This bird has a very strange scientific name and it is Gymnogysp californianus. In the word gymnogyps gymno means naked and gyps means vulture. the last name that this bird could be called is a scavenger because it looks for carcasses of dead animals and that is what it eats. No mater what you call it by it is still the California Condor.

Description
The California Condor is an big animal. It has a bald head and neck with a small hole on each side of its head which is their ear. They have a body with black, grey, and sometimes white feathers. They can weigh up to 30 pounds and when full grown can have a wing span of 10 feet! When soaring they can get up to 55 mph and will fly 150 miles just to find one meal. Surprisingly this big fierce looking bird spends most of its time cleaning itself when it is not looking for food.Just like most other birds the California condor mattes in the fall but what is different about this bird is that they only make one egg every two years. When a baby California Condor hatches its feathers are wet so it looks like it has no feathers at all but in a few hours it will have fluffy white feathers. when the baby is about 1 or half a year old there feathers getcompletely black even their heads are sometimes black but when they get older they will be a light black.

Habitat
The California Condor does not have many needs. For food all it needs is dead carcasses that has not begun to rot just yet. It is surprising that this big bird does not kill for its food.It will only kill mice, rats or small birds,when can not find any thing dead to eat but not normally. In the wild it would live in small caves, mountains, and cliffs or other rocky places. For such a big bird the California condor does not ask for very much from nature.

Range and Population
The California Condor lives in very specific places. It only lives in the USA,normally in the western US. Sometimes you will find them in Florida,but mostly in California, Nevada, and Utah. For the population in 2007, there were only 27 California Condors. In 2011, there were 394 of them. Even if the population is small now, hopefully it will get bigger soon.

Threats
There are very few reasons why the California Condor is endangered, but they are not ones that we can easily solve.The biggest threat is that in the wild, they only make one egg every two years! Because of their slow reproduction, many California Condors are related to one another and they are not able to breed. One other threat is that people steal their eggs. Hunting is also a problem because they are scavengers. When a hunter shoots animal and does not go to get it, a California Condor will find it, then they will eat the animal bullet and that will kill them. Sadly, being a big animal does not help them from threats.

Solutions
Many of the threats to the California Condors cannot be helped, but there are a few we can try to solve. People can continue to help them reproduce more than they would in the wild with captive breeding. We can also make sure that when people hunt, they should always try very hard to find the animal they shot before a California Condor finds it. Sadly, there is not much else that we can do to help.All we can do is hope that in the next 10 years or so the California Condor will be off the Endangered species list for good!

Works Cited
Arnold, Caroline. On the Brink of Extinction the California Condor . San Diego: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich , 1993. Print.
Benson, Sonia. “The California Condor .” Endangered Species . 2nd ed. Print.
“California Condor .” Defenders of Wildlife. http://www.defenders.org/‌wildlife_and_habitat/‌wildlife/‌california_condor.php, n.d. Web. 3 Feb. 2012. .
“California Condor Gymnogyps californianus.” National Geographic. National Geographic, n.d. Web. 16 Dec. 2011. .
Hildyard, Anne. “ Condor .” Wildlife and plants. Third edition ed. 2007. Print.

February 8, 2012

To the Editor:

Did you know the California condor is an endangered species? We must help them because they are very important to the food chain. If we do not help them now, soon there will be no more of them left.
The California condor is so important to the food chain because when an animal dies, a condor goes and finds it, even if it is very far away. Without them, there would be many dead animals everywhere that could spread diseases to other animals and even humans. They are one of the few animals that are scavengers, and scavengers are a huge part of the food chain, since they keep the dead animals in check.
Hunting is also a big problem, but not because people are killing them. When a hunter kills an animal but does not go to get it and bring it home, a California condor will almost immediately find it. When the condor eats the animal, it also eats the bullet in the animal. The bullet will poison the condor or sometimes even kill it.
If we do not assist the California condor soon, there will be no more left. At this time there are only four hundred left in the world. If we don’t act now, it will be too late to save them.
Not many of their threats can be prevented by people, but we can help by always bringing home animals that we shoot. We can also continue captive breeding because they only make one egg every two years! Sadly that is all we can really do.
Thank you for your time and I hope you will consider helping the California Condor a strong and helpful creature.

Sincerely,

A concerned student
at Leverett Elementary School
Emily

Gorillas — Arlo

Imagine you were in Africa and you were wandering through the jungle and saw a 4 -1/2 pound creature clinging on what looked like silvery hairy gorilla back and you think, “Wow, I didn’t know that gorillas have silver hair”. When you get back home, you look up baby gorillas and figure what you had seen was a six month old mountain gorilla, which is the rarest gorilla in the world.

NAMES
Gorillas are very cool animals but when it comes to names, they’re not the most interesting.The scientific name of the gorilla is “gorilla gorilla”. It’s probably the only scientific name that’s American. The oldest member of the pack of gorillas is called the silver back, because the older it gets, the more grey hair it grows. Here are most of the species of gorilla the mountain gorilla, the eastern lowland gorilla, and the western lowland. Two kinds of these are endangered. They are the mountain gorilla and the eastern lowland gorilla. Just because their names are not interesting, doesn’t mean they aren’t.

DESCRIPTION
Gorillas can seem ugly and mean, but can actually be very lovable. They have long, thick black hair, long jaws, long arms, and short legs. They’re black, grey, or silver, depending on how old they are. They can be 6 feet at the tallest and can weigh up to 700 pounds when they’re fully grown. When they’re babies, they can weigh four and one half pounds. They’re closely related to chimpanzees, orangutans, and humans. They may sound frightening when you think of King Kong and other stuff, but they’re actually really adorable.
Gorillas can be feisty, but mostly stay calm. Gorillas make a huge display to scare predators. This includes hooting, pretending to eat, rising on two legs, tearing and ripping up plants, beating their chests, kicking their legs, running around, throwing plants, and thumping on the ground. The babies cling to their mother’s stomachs until they’re old enough to ride on its mother’s backs, and then after that they can walk around. They live around 10-15 years. They mate every four years.They’re smart enough to be bad when they get angry but when they’re not in danger, they normally stay calm.

HABITAT
The habitat of the gorilla is very small. It lives in Africa in Zaire, Uganda, and Rwanda. The only place that they can survive is where their food grows. Their food is bamboo shoots, wild celery, thistle, nettles, and bark. They live in temperatures from 48° to 54° F and it snows there too. The gorilla makes a nest every day because it moves every day. They have black hair to stay warm and they are 4-8 times stronger than humans.

RANGE AND POPULATION
The gorilla lives in a small portion of the world and there are barely any left. There are only about 600 mountain gorillas left in the world, including zoos. The mountain gorilla is the most endangered species of gorilla. It gives birth once every four years.So it takes a very long time for the population to grow. A small portion of the world has gorillas and that’s it.

VALUED FOR
There are lots of reasons why people do and don’t kill gorillas. Gorillas are killed for their hair and skin so that people can make gloves. Nobody has gorillas for pets because they’re too big and too smart. There is another reason people don’t have gorillas for pets. It is that they can not survive in small spaces. Now you might say what about zoos, but mostly they have other species of gorillas in the zoos.

THREATS
There are many of bad things happening to gorillas. The bamboo forests are being cut down and that’s their main habitat and food. There are lots of people poaching gorillas. The gorilla’s only natural enemy is us. It takes four years for a gorilla to become pregnant and after that, nine more months until the babies are born. That is why we should not harm gorillas.

SOLUTIONS
There are not too many ways to save gorillas. The main way is to donate money and start fundraisers. People should stop poaching and the government should enforce the law of no poaching. People should stop cutting down the forests. If you want to help here are some places you can donate money to: The African Wildlife Foundation, The Digit Fund, and The WorldWild Life Fund. So please consider donating and please remember that gorillas are the most wonderful animal ever.

Works Cited
Baker, Bailey. Earths Endangered Creatures Gorilla Rescue. Austin: Steck-Vaughn Company, 1992. Print.
“Gorilla.” Defenders of Wild. Defenders of Wild, n.d. Web. 13 Dec. 2011. .
Kim, Melissa. The Mountain Gorilla. Nashville: Sign Post Books Ltd., 1993. Print.

2/7/12

Dear Editor,

Please do not let the gorilla go extinct. If you do, I am confident that many bad things will happen. Here are some examples. One thing to think about is they are the closest related species to us genetically and physically. Another thing is if the gorilla dies out, the whole food web will be affected.
We cause all of the problems for gorillas. We poach them and then sell their fur, and some people buy their fur not knowing they’re an endangered species. We also pollute the jungle, which kills gorillas and many other animals because it kills their food. Humans are also cutting down the trees, which kills the gorilla too because the trees are a very big part of their habitat.
Here are some things you can do: Do not pollute the jungle, and donate money to The World Wildlife Fund. They try to save endangered species. Just donate 5 to 10 dollars and you could help save the gorillas. If you really want to save the gorilla, you could try writing to the governments of African countries where the gorilla lives. Ask them to please stop cutting down the forest. If you don’t, the magnificent gorilla will die.
The gorilla acts like us, climbs like us, and they have eating habits like ours they even eat with their hands. Please help the gorilla, an intelligent species in big trouble.

Sincerely,

A concerned student,

at Leverett Elementary School

Arlo

The Przewalski Horses by:Alice

Imagine you are in Mongolia’s steppe and you think you see a zebra. YOu think, “Whoa! What’s a zebra doing in Mongolia?” Then walk closer and start to realize that it doesn’t have stripes. It’s tan with dark legs. It’s not at zebra, it’s a Przewalski horse!

There are a lot of different names for the Przewalski horse. The scientific name for the Przewalski horse is Equus Przewaslki, Przewaslki poliakov. They can also be called Takhi horses, which means spirit. Asian wild horse, Mongolian wild horse and Mongolian tarpan are other names for the Przewalski horse. Mares are girls and stallions are boys. Foals are the baby horses. In the 1800’s Russia was ruled Czar Nicholas, and he wanted to know more about the land in Asia. So he sent men to learn about the area, one of the men he sent was Nikiolai Przewalski. On his second trip, someone gave him a wild horse skull and a hide. On his third trip, he saw wild horses himself. It was the Przewalski horse, and soon people named the horse after Nikiolai Przewalski!

A Przewalski horse is a very interesting looking horse. They look like a tan zebra. They have white, cream colored bellies with a dark stripe running down their back and dark, reddish brown legs. Przewalski horses look just like zebras, so their black mane sticks up just like a zebra’s. The Przewalski horse is a tough, strong, bulky looking horse. They can weigh from 440 to 750 pounds. Also, they are not that tall. They are only 48 to 56 inches tall, and the typical height in hands is 13. The average hight of the Bali horse is 12- 13 hands and the average hight for a zebra is 14-16 hands. So they are very close in height. Even though the Przewalski horse is not the prettiest horse in the world, they are very interesting!
Przewalski horses need water, food, the right environment and good shelter to live. Most things they eat are coarser grass and sometimes, if they can find them, they will eat fruit and nuts. You can find Przewalski horses on Mongolias steppe hills. They like to live in hot places that can get snow in the wintertime, like Mongolia. In the spring or the summer they have one baby every year. Once the foal is full grown, it must leave to find a new group.
Przewalski horses are one of the oldest breeds. Ears pointing back show anger or fear, while ears pointing forward show interest in surroundings, and one ear pointing forward and one pointing back shows uncertainty. Did you know that Przewalski horses have amazing endurance and can travel 60-120 miles a day? They have hard, sharp, and round hooves that make it easy to walk in snow and water. These horses are able to detect smell and sound from great distances. Deer and gazelles often stay near groups of Przewalski horses to stay safe from wolf attacks.

Przewalski horses are not just related to zebras. They are related to Bali horses too. Bali horses live in Indonesia and are related to Mongolian horses, like the Przewalski horse. The earliest domestic horses would look very similar to Przewalski horses,
The population of the Przewalski horses was not doing so well in 1977 , there were only 300 Przewalski horses left in the world .People were forcing them out of their habitat, so people could build and grow crops. People also started catching them to do farm work such as pulling carriages, plowing, and being ridden to places. Some people would skin them for wall decorations. Others would even raise them for meat! Some people would even capture newborn foals to raise, and they would often die without the mother’s milk and guidance. Other times Przewalski horses would die of wolf attacks if they wandered out of the group. People found these horses very useful in the farm work.

After Przewalski horses came very close to extinction, in 1977, people started working to build up the population. They got together a group of Przewalski horses to mate and have healthy babies every year in a captive breeding center. People made fields where they could play, eat, and be free. Today there are about 1,500 Przewalski horses worldwide in captivity and about 250- 300 in the wild. Now people are not allowed to threaten or keep these animals. Their future is getting better as the years go on.

Works Cited
Brook, Juliet Clutton. HORSE. New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1992. Print.
Dell, Pamela. Przewalski’s Horses. Chanhassen, MN: The Childs Worlds, 2007. Print.
“Equus przewalskii — Overview Przewalski’s wild horse.” EOL. EOL, n.d. Web. 13 Dec. 2011. .
“Przewalski Horse.” The Visual Dictionary of the Horse. 1994. Print.

Dear Editor ,
2/8/12

Animals are a big part of this world. There are a lot of animals that are endangered or have become extinct. In my class, we have been studying endangered species. I never really thought about how important it is when an animal gets endangered or goes extinct. Humans are the biggest threat there can be to most animals. One animal that is in serious danger is the Przewalski horse.

The Przewalski horse is the last true wild horse. It is one of the oldest breeds and they need your help. Humans are forcing them out of Mongolia’s steppe hills, which is their main habitat. Humans are using the steppe hills for houses and growing crops. Poachers continue to kill them, and take away their young! Some people even raise them for meat!

Some solutions to save the Przewalski horse are captive breeding centers and to protect their habitat. Those solutions have really helped in the last few years, and now there are over 1,400 Przewalski horses. If we all get together, we can stop poachers, trophy hunters and much more from killing other endangered species each year.

Sincerely,
Alice

Bengal Tigers By Cecilia
2/10/12
Introduction

Imagine you are walking through an Asian forest with your friend. Suddenly you hear a noise, the rustling of tree branches. Your friend whispers, “Don’t move, it might be dangerous.” Slowly, you turn around. You see a mother tiger with her cub. Both are a brilliant golden orange with deep black stripes. The tigers don’t see you, so just in time, you duck behind a tree so the tigers can pass by without being disturbed.

Description

Did you know that a Bengal tiger can be over 10 feet long and weigh over 440 pounds? The Bengal tiger has eyesight that is 6 times better than a human’s. They have long whiskers and medium- sized ears. Their fur can be orange, gray, white, black or brown Bengal tigers are related to lions, cheetahs, leopards, cougars, lynxes, and domestic house cats. Their life span is 12-25 years in the wild and 20 or more in captivity. Bengal tigers can jump up to 33 feet high! They also have the ability to blend in really well next to grass. The Bengal tiger’s gestation period is about four months. They reproduce about once a year, with the female giving birth to 2-3 cubs. The cubs stay with their mother for about one year and then they leave.

Habitat
The Bengal tiger lives in a variety of places. They may live in oak woods. They also live in wet and humid jungles, tall grassland, marshes, and mangrove swamps. Some live in each type of climate. To survive, they need to live near their prey, and to have shade and water. They live in parts of India. They are carnivores.

Range And Population
There are only about 7,000 Bengal Tigers left in the world. Merely 3,000 live in Bangladesh and just below 4,000 live in India.

Bengal Tiger Threats And Why They Are Valued

The Bengal Tiger has many threats. Some of these threats are habitat loss, injuries, slow reproduction, and poaching. People cut down the forests where the tiger lives so the tiger’s prey leaves and then the tiger has no food. Also the sea level is rising so that the mangrove swamps where the tiger lives will disappear by about 2070. The seas may be rising faster than scientists think, so it could happen earlier. The mangrove swamp is the only swamp in the world that has mangrove trees.
When a tiger breaks a tooth or loses a claw, it can no longer catch its prey, so the tiger must either find another food source or find another tiger to catch its prey for it. Although this injury is not very common, it is fatal and can be caused by clawing a tree or biting something hard like a rock.
Bengal tigers get poached all the time for their fur, hide, pelt, teeth, claws and other parts. Bengal tiger claw jewelry is valued for over $10,000! People also kill tigers for their meat or buy them to say they killed a tiger. People buy tiger hides for wall decorations, rugs, or hunting trophies.

Solutions For The Bengal Tiger

People have helped tigers by making reserves and protected areas. In 1972, Project Tiger was launched in India to try to raise the populations of tigers and to help Indian people to know their natural heritage. The project was made to preserve natural areas and make a breeding area for the tigers. In Bangladesh the Sundarbans Tiger Project was started to help people know that tigers are in trouble and to try and help tigers by saving the mangrove forest near the Ganges River because it probably has one of the largest populations of wild Bengal Tigers.The Bangladeshi people support saving the tiger. There are eleven protected areas in north India and Nepal. In 2008 the government of India dedicated an anti-poaching force. Many people have helped them. If people stopped cutting down forests the tiger would be in less danger or if there were a new law that people could not kill tigers, it would be better for everyone because imagine, kids in 2050 not knowing there was even ever such a thing as a tiger. WE NEED TO SAVE THIS UNIQUE ANIMAL! IT IS OUR FAULT THEY ARE ENDANGERED SO WE NEED TO HELP SAVE THE BENGAL TIGER!

Works Cited
“Bengal Tiger.” Black Pine Animal Sanctuary. N.p., n.d. Web. 7 Jan. 2012. .
Spilsbury, Richard. Bengal Tiger. Chicago: Animals Under Threat, 2005. Print.

Dear Editor, 2/9/12
Hardly anyone knows about the Bengal tiger. In fact, hardly anyone even knows that there are different types, of tigers or that the Bengal tiger is endangered. We need to have more people know because if we don’t, many types of tigers could become extinct! Imagine kids in 2040 not knowing there was ever even such a thing as a tiger. People are poaching, hunting, and eating Bengal tigers JUST FOR FUN! There are only about 7,000 Bengal tigers left in the world. We people are destroying their habitat, creating global warming, and in general, just pushing them closer to extinction.
People poach, hunt, and eat Bengal tigers without even thinking. People kill Bengal tigers by tracking the tigers and then shooting them with deadly guns that kill the tigers with one shot! Bengal tigers are hunted illegally by criminals in national parks and reserves. People buy Bengal tiger pelts, hides, teeth, and other parts for decoration and medicine. Some claw jewelry was sold for over 10,000 dollars right in this country, in California!We need to stop this illegal trade if we are going to save this amazing animal.
With the tiny population of only 7,000 Bengal tigers left in the world, their population is decreasing rapidlyMerely 3,000 live in Bangladesh and just below 4,000 live in India. Even though 7,000 may seem like a lot, compare it to 8 billion. That’s our population and it’s growing!
People are aggravating the climate and destroying the Bengal tiger’s habitat. Also they are creating global warming which creates higher temperatures and the Bengal tiger needs to live in a cold climate. Global warming also makes the sea level rise and the Bengal tiger lives in the mangrove swamp near the ocean, so if the sea level rises too much, the mangrove swamp will disappear and with it, the tiger.
In conclusion, the Bengal tiger really needs our help. They are in severe trouble with horrible conditions. It would be best for them if people donated money to funds. You can donate money to National Geographic and win prizes or donate money to World Wildlife Fund. It will be worthwhile if you even donate a tiny bit of money, so security guards could have better equipment to see if people are smuggling hides or other parts illegally through airports. I am confident that it would be outrageous if tigers went extinct. If you truly care about this magnificent animal, take action now to save this impressive animal before it is too late!

Sincerely,
Cecilia ,
A Concerned Citizen From Leverett Elementary School

Orca Whales
[Killer Whales]
by Brooke
2/3/12

Imagine you are scuba diving. You go deeper and deeper. You see a yellow fish very close to your feet. In three seconds it is gone. Then you see something come up. Now you’re face to face with a killer whale…….

The orca is the largest member of the dolphin family in the world! The females are 22 to 25 ft long and the males are 25 to 30 ft long. The females weigh 3,000 to 8,000 lbs and the males weigh 8,000 to 12,000 lbs. The male’s dorsal fin can be as tall as 6 ft tall and he has a strong tail!!! The orca’s back is black and the belly is white.

Calves stay with their mom’s pod for their whole life unless they are males. Males stay with their mom for two years and then they go off by themselves. The baby learns to stay close to the pod and learns to swim better and better, so he or she can hunt like the mom. They can reproduce by age 15. Females live up to 90 years! Males live up to 50 years.

The male usually travels alone, but when he is ready to mate he will find a pod and mate. Killer whales mate in warm waters and near the waters surface. They always mate in the winter. The babies are born 16 to 17 months later. They usually have one baby every five years.

They live in cold coastal waters and in the open ocean. Orcas mostly live near the Arctic coast of the United States. Orcas like to eat fish, squid, birds and marine mammals like seals and other dolphins.

Orcas can be found From polar areas to the equator. They live in all of the oceans of the world. Nobody knows how many exactly there are in the world. There are probably fewer than 50,000!

There are five threats to the killer whale. A recent oil spill has been a threat to a lot sea animals but some killer whales have had habitat wrecked because of the oil spill! Also, people are eating all the fish so the killer whales are dying out! Killer whales mostly eat salmon and the salmon is dying so pretty soon the killer whale will die. The food chain matters. If one species dies the animals that have been eating it could die! They can not reproduce if there is no food. Fish have a lot of pollution and seals eat fish and the killer whale eats the seal, so it gets all of the pollution in their bodies from the environment. They can die from this. Boats go near killer whales and the whales are disturbed.

PEOPLE SHOUD STOP taking so many fish! People should not kill so many salmon. People should not go near a killer whale with a boat and disturb it. We must stop polluting! It is killing the orca.

Save the killer whale!!!!

Works Cited
Inskipp, Carol. Killer whale. Chicago: Heinemann Library, 2005. Print.
“Killer Whale (Orca) Orcinus orca.” National Geographic. National Geographic Society, n.d. Web. 12 Dec. 2011. .

Cheetahs By Olivia

Imagine you are on the grassy African Savannah. Suddenly, a gazelle darts past! Then a tawny blur flashes past, in pursuit of the gazelle, it has to be a cheetah! It goes past at about top cheetah speed, or 70-75 mph! Cheetahs run, rather than fight, against lions, hyenas, or leopards. This happens for two reasons, they are built for speed and injured cheetah + wild = starved cheetah. They can’t protect their cub(s) from danger. Not only that, they can’t protect their territory against humans! Sadly, this species is racing to the finish of existence!

Names of the Cheetah
The cheetah’s common name, cheetah, is formed from “citraka” the Sanskrit word for speckled body. Its scientific name is acinonyx jubatus. It is the only animal left in its genus. Scientists believe that they used to live in the United States of America, and many animals in its genus died out. Did you know that 99% of a cheetah’s genes are the same as one another?! This may have happened something like this: many of the cheetah’s ancestors died, and all the surviving ones were related, so they had to mate with one another. Once when some scientists saw a cheetah with a stripe down its back and short stripes, instead of spots, they thought that it must be a separate species, so they called it acinonyx rex, or “king” cheetah! It turned out to be a rare mutation, they figured that out when a regular female cheetah mated with a regular male cheetah and gave birth to a “king” cheetah cub.

A Description of the Cheetah
Most big cats are strong and muscular hunters, but the cheetah is different. The cheetah is so different that they even make different sounds! The cheetah purrs when happy, coos, like a dove when they are ready to mate, and most unexpected of all, they chirp to their cubs! The average cheetah weighs 80-140 pounds. They are about 4 1/2 feet long with an additional 30 in. for the tail. Cheetahs are built for speed with the four Ls: long, light, lean, and lanky. No other land animal can compare to their top speed, of 70-75 mph! They are tawny with black spots, except for their throat and stomach, which are white with a few black spots. They are hidden well while stalking their prey, because of their spots. Another thing that helps them survive are long tails, which counter-balance their bodies during the chase. And yet another thing that help them survive are huge chests, which hold huge hearts, that can pump blood quickly. Their blunt claws, which are unable to retract, help to give the traction, which every runner needs! On their faces are black lines called “tear marks.” They absorb the sun’s glare, so the cheetah can see prey and spot predators.

Mating Habits
When cheetahs are born, they have a blackish, grayish back with a wide white stripe down the middle. This coloring helps them to hide from predators, like the lion, leopard, or hyena, who seek the chance to “get rid of the competition.” It also helps the cubs look like the ferocious honey badger, (honey badgers are animals who no one messes with) when they curl up. They will have these markings for the first two months of their life. Cubs will live with their mother for the first 18 months of their life, but they will never know their father. The cubs will stay together for about six months after they are separated from their mother. The females will then leave, and let the male cub(s) decide whether they want to form a small group, of 2-4 cheetahs, and find and defend their territory together, or defend their territory alone and separate, with the possibility that they may never see each other again. These big cats stay together longer that any other big cat, except the lions, panthera leo, who tend to live together, in groups called prides. The female cheetah is a runner, and only groups of males will defend their territory against other predators. After it rains, female cheetahs start to “coo.” This tells the males that she is looking for a mate. Gazelles reproduce after it rains, so it makes sense for cheetahs to do so as well.

The Cheetah’s Habitat
Cheetahs need a lot of space and prey, and humans are eliminating both! Cheetahs live on the grassy African Savannah. The cheetah’s habitat is decreasing because people are creating buildings on the cheetah’s home. Humans also cause prey loss when they hunt and scare gazelles. If the gazelles aren’t there, then the cheetah can’t be there! Since their natural prey, gazelles, are unavailable, cheetahs will prey on the farmer’s livestock, like sheep or cattle. The farmers will kill cheetahs because they are allowed to shoot them, if they are protecting their livestock, even though they are endangered. Lions, hyenas, and leopards are all nocturnal (they hunt at night) whereas cheetahs, on the other hand, hunt at day. This means that farmers blame cheetahs, who are shot enough for their own kills, for the lion’s, hyena’s, and leopard’s kills as well! The cheetah kills gazelles and other prey through suffocation. The cheetah’s diet includes impalas, wildebeest, antelope, rabbits, and mainly gazelles.
Female cheetahs need about 300 square miles of territory to support themselves, with or without cubs. A female’s territory will possibly overlap with other females, but NOT with male’s territory. Females will do their best to avoid each other. Males usually live in groups, mainly of brothers, and they defend their territory against other cheetahs. Even though they live, in groups they only need 20 square miles, compared to 300 square miles for ONE female cheetah! Humans force cheetahs closer to more “battle worthy” predators, like lions or hyenas. Cheetahs MUST avoid other predators, to avoid injury. Cheetahs need to avoid vultures, but for different reasons, because vultures attract dangerous competition, competition for survival. So to avoid conflict over food, cheetahs eat as much as they have time and stomach for. Next, they get out of there! If humans continue to steal their land, and scare away their prey this extraordinary species will cease to exist!

Range & Population of the Cheetah
The cheetah’s habitat, or where it lives, may seem vast, but in reality 2,000 square miles only fits about 6 female cheetahs. In the wild, there are only 9,000 to 12,000 cheetahs left. There are also about 1,400 captive cheetahs in zoos and wildlife reserves around the world. That is only 10,400 to 13,400 left in the entire world! In Jordan, the cheetahs were hunted until only a female and her cub were left, then they were shot as well. How would you like it if your friends, parents, sister(s), and brother(s) were all killed and you were driven from your home, lost all your food, and eventually shot by these giants, with shiny “tubes” that shoot “lightning?” That is what it may be like to a cheetah! The cheetah’s numbers will only continue sinking, unless people stop causing these animals problems. Unless humans will destroy this creature’s habitat, family, and their way of living.

The Cheetah’s Value
Have you ever seen real cheetah skin/fur coats, snake skin belts, or alligator hide, for a purse? If you have, chances are that they were tracked, killed, shipped, and bought illegally. People kill cheetahs for their pelts, and female cheetahs for her cubs to sell as pets. This is done illegally. Cheetahs can’t be killed legally by a human, unless they are protecting livestock, so if someone kills a cheetah, they have done it illegally. Most people kill either for the excitement and enjoyment of tracking and killing the fastest animal of the land, or for the money of selling the pelt or cub. Did you know that a long time ago in Egypt, people kept cheetahs as pets?! Since cheetahs aren’t as ferocious as most big cats, Egyptians thought that they would be good pets. They also trained them to hunt for them. Did you know that the cheetah’s pelt once symbolized wealth, and power? If you see a product made out of an endangered species, DON’T buy it! It probably shouldn’t be here.
Threats That Cheetahs Face
From the day a cheetah is born, they face deadly threats. If their mother can’t kill enough prey, then the cub will starve. If humans take away their habitat by building more homes, then the cheetah cub might starve or be forced too close to other predators, and killed. Even in their mother’s stomach they are at risk of never being born. It takes about 90 days for a female cheetah to have cubs after mating. In other words, their gestation period is 90 days. In each litter, there are 1-8 cubs, more commonly 3-5, so when someone kills a pregnant female cheetah, they could be killing up to 9 animals! The risk of a cheetah cub not living to adulthood is very high, even without the threat of humans the chance of a cheetah cub being killed by another predator is 90-95%!
Humans, such as farmers, hunters, and poachers kill cheetahs. Hyenas, lions, and leopards all kill cheetahs! Farmers kill them to protect their livestock, poachers kill for their pelt, and for their cubs to sell at pet stores, hunters kill for fun, trophy, money, and the “thrill.” They all have one thing in common: they are threats to not only a cheetah’s individual survival, but to their entire species’ existence! These humans drive their prey from their natural home! At a certain time the cheetah’s favorite prey was the black buck, an antelope. Humans killed thousands of black bucks. When they died out, cheetahs could live there and die, or run away. The cheetah went extinct in India 60 years ago due to hunting and prey loss!

Possible Solutions to Save the Cheetah
There are many possible ways that we may help the cheetah. A zoo might put a radio collar on several cheetahs, males and females, during mating season,then release them, into a reserve separate from lions and other predators. After the season, the zoo could track them and bring them back, with their cubs. Then they could raise the cubs and do the same thing over and over again. Another possibility could be to keep cheetahs are kept away from lions, and other animals except gazelles, and other types of prey, when they’re in wildlife reserves. Maybe if the punishment for killing were worse, and the price for cheetah skin is a lot lower, you would loose more if you were caught killing or having killed a cheetah, than you would gain if you were considering it. To help with the farmer problem, farmers could put out old, dying, and sick livestock, that they don’t want, and use them to bait the cheetah into a trap, so people from a reserve could bring them somewhere where they wouldn’t bother them.

Ways for YOU to Help
If you would like to help, (1) go to worldwildlife.org, (2) double click on adopt, (3) in the top left corner, there is something that says “species adoptions,” in the top left corner, click on it, (3) then scroll down, until you see a picture of a cheetah, (4) click on it. Choose whether you want to get the $100, $50, or the $25 adoption kit, they come with different gifts. Another way you could help is (1) go to worldanimalfoundation.net, (2) “roll” over “Adopt An Animal,” (3) click “Choose An Animal,” (4) then find “Adopt A Cheetah” and click on it, (5) if you want to “adopt” a cheetah for $35.00 then click add to cart, (6) finally if you are done “shopping” click on checkout. These websites, if you ask me, are pretty cheap, compared to others. If you want any other ways to help, google “adopt a cheetah,” that’s how I did it!

Cheetah And Turtle Poem By Olivia

Cheetah
Speedy, hidden,
Stalking, chasing, slowing,
Spotting, running, pouncing, missing, slowing, walking, sleeping,
Hiding, defending, walking,
Slow, patient,
Turtle

Endangered Species Poem By Olivia

Threatened Species
Low, small,
Falling, dying, lowering,
Hunters shooting, loggers logging, no land or home!
Declining, sinking, going,
Not enough, almost gone,
Endangered Species

More Facts on Cheetahs
If you want to learn more you could go to
“Acinonyx jubatus — Overview cheetah.” eol. eol, n.d. Web. 16 Dec. 2011. Here is a link .
Or you could watch: “Mimic.” Wild Kratts. PBS Kids. PBS, n.p., 15 Dec 2011. Television. And: “Cheetah Racer.” Wild Kratts. PBS Kids. PBS, n.p., 15 Dec. 2011. Television.
Or read: Harkrader, Lisa. Endangered and Threatened Animals: The Cheetah. New Jersey: Enslow Publishers, Inc., 2005. Print. And:
Rich, Tracey, and Andy Rouse. Wildlife Monographs: Cheetahs. Herts. United Kingdom: Evans Mitchell Books, 2004. Print.

February 1, 2012

Dear Editor,

Do you know what the second fastest land animal is? I ask this because the first fastest, the cheetah, is endangered and could easily go extinct. There are only about 10,400-13,400 left in the entire WORLD! Imagine you’re a cheetah, your very existence is threatened before you’re born. Humans cause the most problems of a cheetah, and because we cause these problems, we should fix them.
How would you like to be a cheetah? You could be shot before you’re born, killed by another predator even as an adult, or even lose your family! If that’s not enough, you could be starved, driven from your home, AND shot. How would YOU like it?
Did you know 90-95% of cheetah cubs die before adulthood, from attacks by lions, leopards, and hyenas? Yet, the biggest threat to the cheetah’s existence comes from furless, two legged, deadly humans. A single female cheetah needs 300 square miles (a group of male cheetahs need 20 square miles). Humans take up a lot of land, for building on, this means less land for cheetahs. Many poachers kill cheetahs so they can sell the pelt. Others kill the mother for the cub, to sell to pet stores, and yet others kill for pleasure. Even farmers are threats. When a farmer scares away gazelles and brings his livestock to the cheetah’s territory,the cheetahs, deprived of their natural prey, are forced to starve or hunt the livestock. Despite the fact that the cheetah is endangered, farmers are permitted to kill them to protect their livestock, so cheetahs that hunt livestock are shot.
Since humans are causing these problems, we should work to help save the cheetah. Maybe someone could start a boycott against buying cheetah products. If you want to help, you could adopt a cheetah online at www.worldwildlife.org and/or donate to a wildlife reserve.
I have given you several ways to help, it’s up to you, readers, to decide to help the cheetah. I hope that you won’t just stand by and watch the cheetah go extinct. Nobody wants to watch something bad happen and know that you could have stopped it.

Sincerely,

Olivia

A friend of cheetahs,
someone who cares,
and a student of Leverett Elementary School

The students in Tracey’s Grade 3 have each researched a famous person. Taking the information they have learned, the students created a biography overview incorporating images. Click on each image to view them full size!

George Washington by Zach

Walt Disney by Deyan

Nellie Bly by Addy

Harriet Tubman by Ashirah

Davy Crockett by Emily O.

Benjamin Franklin by Noah

Jane Goodall by Ocea

Neil Armstrong by Tatiana

Wright Brothers by Will

Benjamin Franklin by Ethan

In Grade 5, students study endangered species. Each student chooses one animal to research their physical characteristics, life cycles, habitats and environmental impacts. The student creates a shoebox habitat and writes an overview of his/her report to share with the class. Using green screen technology, the students were recorded presenting their findings and a picture was taken of their habitat. Using iMovie, the two were merged resulting in the students presenting their findings inside of their habitat.

Student in front of green screen

Habitat Photo

Final Product

Using green screen technology, we have to be careful of the color of the students’ clothing. This became apparent when Olivia wore a teal colored shirt! Take a look at her presentation and you will see why this becomes important. Thank you to Olivia for agreeing to publish her presentation to show as an example.

Olivia — Cheetah

Writings

Yacine — Bats

Writings

Riley — Koala

Writings

Jennie — Florida Panther

Writings

Gavin — Grey Wolf

Writings

Alana — African Elephants

Writings

Stella — Peregrine Falcon

Writings

Arlo — Gorilla

Writings

Emily — California Condor

Writings

Mae — Snow Leopard

Sophie — Manatee

Writings

Mateo — Giant Panda

Tai — Bald Eagle

Spencer — Black Rhino

Writings

Isabel — Polar Bear

Writings

Henry — Bengal Tiger

Writings

Eli’s Writings

In Grade 5, students study endangered species. Each student chooses one animal to research their physical characteristics, life cycles, habitats and environmental impacts. The student creates a shoebox habitat and writes an overview of his/her report to share with the class. Using green screen technology, the students were recorded presenting their findings and a picture was taken of their habitat. Using iMovie, the two were merged resulting in the students presenting their findings inside of their habitat.

Student in front of green screen

Picture of habitat

Final Product

Using green screen technology, we have to be careful of the color of the students’ clothing. This became apparent when Olivia wore a teal colored shirt! Take a look at her presentation and you will see why this becomes important. Thank you to Olivia for agreeing to publish her presentation to show as an example.

Olivia – Cheetah

Ian — Jaguars

Writings

Giselle — Black-Footed Ferrets

Writings

Gaelen — Koalas

Writings

Emilio — Giant Armadillos

Writings

NJ — Whooping Crane

Writings

Max — Orangutan

Writings

Cecilia — Bengal Tiger

Writings

Brooke — Killer Whale

Writings

Noa — Grevy Zebra

Writings

Jayde — Grey Wolf

Writings

Brody — Panda

Writings

Emma — Elephants

Writings

Alice — Przewalski’s Horse

Writings

Willa – Polar Bears

Writings

Drey — California Condor

Writings

Noah — Peregrine Falcon

Writings

Elijah — River Otter