Mrs. Thompson's Eco Corner

The high school student senate is selling Earth Day shirts for $10 each. Orders must be turned into Mrs. Stegemann at the high school by Thursday. You can call her if you have questions, 625-1211 ext. 125.

I have had several students ask me about Earth Day next month. Lots of you have great ideas on things we can do to promote Earth Day. Post any ideas you have as a comment to this post and we will discuss them.

Here are a few fun Earth Day links I found to get your ideas flowing!!
Michael, Michael, Go Recycle! Game
Free the Beach Game
Planet Green Game

Description: During the winter, snowshoe hares have a think white coat that helps them blend in with the snow. In the spring, they shed their winter coat and grow a thin brown summer coat. This acts as a camouflage among the green and brown shadows on the forest floor. Even though the snowshoe hare has a snowy-white coat for part of the year, it actually gets its name from its feet. The hind feet on a snowshoe hare can be up to seven inches long and webbing between the toes like snowshoes.This allows the hare to stay on top of the snow while running and jumping. This is very important when snowshoe hares are trying to escape predators like foxes, lynx, and raptors. Snowshoe hares can reach speeds up to 30 miles per hour.

Habitat: Snowshoe hares are very common in the northern forests of North America. Although once native to the extreme northeast corner of Ohio, snowshoe hares were probably never abundant or widely distributed. It is believed they were extirpated from the state in the early 1900's due to large scale clearing of forest lands.

Reason Endangered: Forests are being destroyed for building and over hunted.

What Can Be Done: Protected by the state of Ohio. Provide a better habitat.

Interesting Facts: They eat grass, clovers and vegetable sprouts in the summer. They eat twigs, bark, buds, fruit and berries in the winter. They can have up to 4 litters per year. They can live up to 1-1.5 years.

For more information on snowshoe hares, click here.

The black bear is an endangered species in Ohio because people are hunting them. Bears can be different colors and bers can weigh from 150-700 pounds. Bears eat grass, forbs, berried, mast from oak, hickory and beech trees, carrion and insects as their typical foods.

The bear's habitat is in woodlands or forests. We can protect bears by not hunting them and making sure they have woodlands or forests to live in.

For more info on Ohio Black Bears, click here.

For the correct answer, visit the website for the Ohio Department of Natural Resources by clicking here.

In the fall, I took a class that focused on primates and you guys helped me design my experiment. While working on this project we learned that gorillas and other primates are at risk of becoming extinct. People are working to make sure that this does not happen.

We know that gorillas and bonobos are not native to Ohio. The question I am asking you is, do you think we have any endangered species here in Ohio. If so, how many? Complete the poll on the right side of the page. Feel free to comment on this post which answer you chose and why.

Did you know that this week is National Groundwater Awareness week? More than 90 percent of all public drinking water systems rely on ground water to supply the population with drinking water. And millions of Americans rely on ground water from aquifers to supply their private wells. Click here to visit the EPA website and learn more.

One of the activities on our recent water cycle learning contract was a visit to Thirstin's Computer Games. Here are some links to those activities to refresh your memory.

Interactive Water Cycle
Thirstin's Word Scramble
Thirstin's Interactive Matching Game
Interactive Questions and Answers

What did you learn from these activities? Have you made any changes to how you use water?