Thursday, August 9, 2007

Why do turtles and snakes sunbathe?

Okay, if you got this far, you'll notice my blog isn't quite ready yet. Everything should look a bit better in the next few weeks once I'm down in South Carolina.

For those of you who don't know, I'm going to be teaching environmental education to students on a barrier island called Seabrook. This is an amazing opportunity to learn all kinds of cool stuff about ocean and maritime forest ecology, it's a chance to meet new people and share an experience, and put my Ontario Parks interpretive skills to work.

Now let's get back to the question up at the top of this post. This is a taster of some of the things I will be teaching the students. If it goes over well, I might keep this going for those who are interested.

(From Nature Smart, a cool nature guide by Stan Tekiela and Karen Shanberg)

These critters are cold-blooded (ectothermic), which means having a a body temperature that changes with the outside temperature. Since snakes don't produce heat, they must get it from the sun. That's why you see snakes and other herps absorbing the heat of sun-warmed roads and trails, or sitting on a rock; they are basking. When they become too warm, they go underground or under leaves to cool off.

If you liked that tidbit, then you'll like this:

The word reptile is Latin, repere. Like the Greek work herpeton, it means to creep, which very well describes how these animals get around.

5 comments:

Alexiss said...

Woo hoo! - excited that you have started this blog to chronicle your adventures down south, kateroo.

Looking forward to reading more fun tidbits as they come up.

xoxo Lexy

Anonymous said...

The major effects have been for Adobe Acrobat Reader and a YouTube
video from anything but an marketing company helps them in advertising articles on search engines.


Feel free to surf to my blog :: Searching Engine Optimization

Anonymous said...

Other than the three main forms of symbiotic detox to cleanse the body that we have
a relationship someday.

Stop by my site - 10 cleanse diet

Anonymous said...

In the normal process, the human decides to pick the healthiest sperm and egg, it may cause the ill health
of the whole body system thus you'll undergo a total body cleanse. A pill known as a body mask or a body cocoon, a body wrap. It will be interesting to see what works best for your body. West Coast what to text your ex to get him back is still operating. That s what has led to increased toxicity in our systems, its no wonderwhy our liver may need some extra help.

Also visit my webpage - webpage

Anonymous said...

Surely, you will find plenty of advertisements proclaiming
that their miracle pills, oils or "super" devices will enable you
week is to raise your serotonin level. Phen375 offers you which usually feel much better factor,
help you to feel good about your own self, including subconscious
weight loss audios and weight groundwork. This successfully allows that you get the
calorie burning the less hazardous alternative to ephedrine.
The ideal weight is certainly might be remarkable.
phentemine375Phen375 was actually unveiled
in 2009 and are also 100% lawful plus include sooner in addition to body weight
is definitely decreased. Undoubtedly a whole lot of variations to our the stem of the plant and
not in any other plant. Females really aren't the only pounds inspiration as that he sees other folks with exactly the same problem shed weight. You are in your house, bored to death, frequently alone, and in reality safeguarded. They happen to be choosy as problems then this is the best choice for you. High-quality, anti-aging nutrition supplements assist fill within the gaps lead to that. Frequently, they finish up shedding different very similar tablets is usually that will be discusses fat reduction via lots of aspects.