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Who are we?

Schools and students have permission to use this graphic for non-commercial, educational purposes.

Schools and students have permission to use this graphic for non-commercial, educational purposes.

In the birthday post for this blog, classes were invited to suggest names for the two friends pictured above.

With the assistance of some Grade 4 volunteers, the votes are in for this blog's birthday competition. I would like to introduce some friends of this blog.

Boxer and Roo

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Schools and students have permission to use this graphic for non-commercial, educational purposes.

Boxer and Roo will soon be travelling to their new home in Canada where they will live with the Battalion Bloggers.

Eucy

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Schools and students have permission to use this graphic for non-commercial, educational purposes.

Eucy the koala won't be travelling as far as Boxer and Roo because Eucy's new home will be in the state of Victoria, Australia. 4A and 4B will be Eucy's new family.

With their new names and homes, Boxer, Roo and Eucy were very excited but I noticed they were also a little sad. They said their friend, Pepper Possum, also wanted a new home. They asked if I could find one. I told them not to worry. Another class had entered some fantastic names in the birthday competition. After looking at the names suggested, Boxer, Roo and Eucy thought Pepper Possum would love a new home with such creative students.

Pepper Possum

Schools and students have permission to use this graphic for non-commercial, educational purposes.

Schools and students have permission to use this graphic for non-commercial, educational purposes.

When Pepper Possum was told about a new home, all of the friends were excited. Pepper Possum will be travelling to the U.S.A. to stay in a new home with Mrs. Yollis and her class.

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Schools and students have permission to use this graphic for non-commercial, educational purposes.

Schools and students have permission to use this graphic for non-commercial, educational purposes.

What an amazing two years it has been. This blog started out merely as a way of adding photos/drawings/video/audio when a simple comment wasn't enough. I had no idea how much a part of my life blogging would become. Being a retired teacher, I once again felt part of student learning.

As of May 21 there had been 73,400* visitors from 179 countries who have dropped in. My top five visitors have been from U.S.A., Australia, Great Britain, Canada and India. There has been so much interaction where students and I shared our learning journeys on many topics.

To celebrate, two friends of mine joined me for a birthday party complete with a cake. As you can see in the photo above, they really got into the swing of the party.

My two friends have a slight problem classes might like to help me solve. They don't have names. Can classes help me find names for them?

Let's have a closer look at them...

Schools and students have permission to use this graphic for non-commercial, educational purposes.

Schools and students have permission to use this graphic for non-commercial, educational purposes.

They are an Australian made koala and kangaroo. If your class thinks of a name for each, write them as a comment on this post.

Only class entries will be taken, no individuals. If you are entering for your class, you must ask your teacher if it's okay.

Classes should only enter one name for each of my friends. Remember to mention which friend for each name.

I hope to have a panel of local students help me make the selection. They will not have entered for their class.

You have until the last part of the world reaches midnight on May 29, 2014 to submit your suggestions.

For my blog 's birthday, the gifts are for readers. My two friends are waiting for a new home.  The winning two classes will be notified and I will attempt to contact your school for the school address details. Your class will, if your class name is chosen for one of the friends, receive the friend you have named.

 

Below is the Clustrmap for this blog's first two years...

This is a screen capture of this blog's Clustrmap for its first two years before archiving.

This is a screen capture of this blog's Clustrmap for its first two years before archiving. 73,756 visits were recorded.

*73,400 was based on data from Clustrmaps and not actual visitors due to the Clustrmap being inserted some weeks after this blog commenced.

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Miss Jordan's class has been learning techniques for playing African drums. To see their original post, click the link below...

Drumming in Music

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Schools and students have permission to use this graphic for non-commercial, educational purposes.

Hello Miss Jordan and Class,

Your Drumming in Music post fascinated me. In my years of teaching, I didn't have the opportunity to learn and share African drumming with a class but in more recent years I have produced DVDs for a multi-school performing arts festival and been able to experience them.

The use of African drums has been spreading throughout my area. One school has even dabbled in Japanese Taiko drums. It's the rhythm and coordinated beat of many drums I really enjoy. I can't share the actual video visuals of the performance online but I can share the audio track of a performance I filmed in 2013. What you hear is the work of 12 primary school students who had been practising throughout the year leading up to their performance in Term 3.

 

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Ella left a comment asking what Taiko drumming sounded like. Below is the sound of 14 primary school students performing at the same festival as the African drums. Again, the visuals can't be shown.

 

Click to go back to "What the Dino Saw"

The displays shown on this blog post were photographed/filmed in April, 2014. Displays can change over time.

Things to remember:

We don't really know what colours dinosaurs were. Fossils don't show colour. The colours you see are guesses.

We don't know what sounds the dinosaurs made. Like colour, the sounds are also guesses.

Scientists can make guesses about how dinosaurs looked by looking at fossils.

You have survived going through the dinosaur's mouth so let's see what's next in the Canberra's National Dinosaur Museum. Have you heard the song "Never Smile at a Crocodile". The smiling skull you see when you enter is a deinosuchus. Below it you can see a crocodile skull. Deinosuchus is related to an alligator and is not a dinosaur but it was very big.

Schools and students have permission to use this graphic for non-commercial, educational purposes.

Schools and students have permission to use this graphic for non-commercial, educational purposes.

Deinosuchus

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Now meet your first inside dinosaur. It is a raptor like the velociraptor but bigger.

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Schools and students have permission to use this graphic for non-commercial, educational purposes.

Utahraptor

Some of the dinosaurs in the museum can move. Click on the video below to see the moving utahraptor...

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As we walk inside, there is a discovery area for hands on investigation at the left and a shop on the right but our journey is up the stairs to see the dinosaurs. Look up as you climb the stairs and you will see flying reptiles. They are not dinosaurs but soared through the sky when dinosaurs were around.

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Schools and students have permission to use this graphic for non-commercial, educational purposes.

Click on the video below to see one of the flying reptiles move.

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Now you're on the top floor, there are many dinosaurs and other creatures to see. Here are a few...

Schools and students have permission to use this graphic for non-commercial, educational purposes.

Schools and students have permission to use this graphic for non-commercial, educational purposes.

Schools and students have permission to use this graphic for non-commercial, educational purposes.

Schools and students have permission to use this graphic for non-commercial, educational purposes.

Stegosaurus

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Schools and students have permission to use this graphic for non-commercial, educational purposes.

Schools and students have permission to use this graphic for non-commercial, educational purposes.

Carnotaurus 

Click on the video below to see the carnotaurus move...

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Schools and students have permission to use this graphic for non-commercial, educational purposes.

Schools and students have permission to use this graphic for non-commercial, educational purposes.

Spinosaurus 

Click on the video below to see the spinosaurus move...

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Schools and students have permission to use this graphic for non-commercial, educational purposes.

Schools and students have permission to use this graphic for non-commercial, educational purposes.

Iguanodon

Click on the video below to see the iguanodon move...

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Schools and students have permission to use this graphic for non-commercial, educational purposes.

Schools and students have permission to use this graphic for non-commercial, educational purposes.

Tyrannosaurus Rex

Click on the video below to see the tyrannosaurus rex move...

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Now, a question for you. Look at the picture of a spinosaurus below. Underneath the spinosaurus are photos of four replica dinosaur teeth. Can you guess which replica tooth belongs to the spinosaurus?

Schools and students have permission to use this graphic for non-commercial, educational purposes.

Schools and students have permission to use this graphic for non-commercial, educational purposes.

Schools and students have permission to use this graphic for non-commercial, educational purposes.

Schools and students have permission to use this graphic for non-commercial, educational purposes.

Once you have decided which tooth belongs to a spinosaur, click the link to show the answer...

I've made my guess.

The photos and videos were taken in April, 2014. The displays may have had changes if you visit Canberra's National Dinosaur Museum.

Hello everyone,

I know you are interested in dinosaurs and wanted to learn something about them. Let's start with a visit to Canberra's National Dinosaur Museum. When you arrive, you can see dinosaurs waiting to greet you.

Schools and students have permission to use this graphic for non-commercial, educational purposes.

Schools and students have permission to use this graphic for non-commercial, educational purposes.

Let's meet some of the dinosaurs waiting outside the museum. If you want to learn more about one of them, you can click on their names under the photo and it will take you to an information page about the dinosaur.

Let's start with an old favourite...

Schools and students have permission to use this graphic for non-commercial, educational purposes.

Schools and students have permission to use this graphic for non-commercial, educational purposes.

...for more information click the link below...

Tyrannosaurus Rex

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You may know the tyrannosaurus rex was a carnivore. It ate meat but do you know the meat eating dinosaur below?

Schools and students have permission to use this graphic for non-commercial, educational purposes.

Schools and students have permission to use this graphic for non-commercial, educational purposes.

...for more information click the link below...

Spinosaurus

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Not all meat eating dinosaurs were as big as these. Did you know there were smaller dinosaurs who would hunt together? Velociraptors might only be 60cm high and 1.6m long but the Utahraptor was bigger. Let's meet a Utahraptor.

Schools and students have permission to use this graphic for non-commercial, educational purposes.

Schools and students have permission to use this graphic for non-commercial, educational purposes.

...for more information click the link below...

Utahraptor

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Not all dinosaurs were meat eaters.

Schools and students have permission to use this graphic for non-commercial, educational purposes.

Schools and students have permission to use this graphic for non-commercial, educational purposes.

...for more information click the link below...

Brachiosaurus

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Schools and students have permission to use this graphic for non-commercial, educational purposes.

Schools and students have permission to use this graphic for non-commercial, educational purposes.

...for more information click the link below...

Parasaurolophus

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Schools and students have permission to use this graphic for non-commercial, educational purposes.

Schools and students have permission to use this graphic for non-commercial, educational purposes.

...for more information click the link below...

Stegosaurus

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Schools and students have permission to use this graphic for non-commercial, educational purposes.

Schools and students have permission to use this graphic for non-commercial, educational purposes.

Triceratops

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There were also reptiles that could fly. While not dinosaurs, they soared through the skies...

Schools and students have permission to use this graphic for non-commercial, educational purposes.

Schools and students have permission to use this graphic for non-commercial, educational purposes.

Pteranodon

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Now let me show you around the inside of the National Dinosaur Museum. Click on the photo below to go to the next post and see inside the museum...

Schools and students have permission to use this graphic for non-commercial, educational purposes.

Schools and students have permission to use this graphic for non-commercial, educational purposes.

Things to remember:

We don't really know what colours dinosaurs were. Fossils don't show colour. The colours you see are guesses.

We don't know what sounds the dinosaurs made. Like colour, the sounds are also guesses.

Scientists can make guesses about how dinosaurs looked by looking at fossils.

 

 

With continued thoughts and questions from the Battalion Bloggers, another post was necessary to answer. To see their initial post and the follow up comments, here is the link...

A Surprise Post Inspires Action

Hello Battalion Bloggers,

There is no need to apologise for taking time to reply. I have seen how many quality experiences you have been having through blogging and know you would be having many other learning experiences in school. When we are keen to learn, there is always something to keep us busy.

Ethan, Isaac & Alex – There was no need to use a zoom lens to take the close up photo of emus. While it isn’t possible with emus in the wild, the photo was taken at Potoroo Palace, my favourite local wildlife sanctuary. I have hand fed emus at the sanctuary so being up close isn’t hard. I have seen emus a little taller than me and I stand 185cm tall so they probably can reach around 2m in height.

Dinosaurs – Well, there’s a coincidence. I am preparing something on dinosaurs for Year 1 and 2 in my local school. It will include a blog post I will also share with your class when it’s ready. It will take time as there is much to prepare. Below is a sample photo I have taken of a friend lurking near a tree at Australia’s National Dinosaur Museum in Canberra…

Schools and students have permission to use this graphic for non-commercial, educational purposes.

Schools and students have permission to use this graphic for non-commercial, educational purposes. 

Kale – I think emus can run up to around 50kph (31mph) so they can run much faster than us. I think the one I saw would have only been running in the 30s.

As far as winged dinosaurs are concerned, there really weren't any. They were flying reptiles like the ones pictured below. When I was your age most thought they could only soar like kites but it has been shown they could really fly and some are known to have had feathers.

Schools and students have permission to use this graphic for non-commercial, educational purposes.

Schools and students have permission to use this graphic for non-commercial, educational purposes. 

Melvin – One of the amazing things about learning is the way we can recall information we may have learned some time ago. That’s one of my secrets in blog commenting. Someone writes something and I remember a fact or two and, with extra research, I start writing a post.

Schools and students have permission to use this graphic for non-commercial, educational purposes.

Schools and students have permission to use this graphic for non-commercial, educational purposes. 

Amy, Catherine & Noam – We don’t tend to see emus walking around wild in my area. However, in my first school as a permanent teacher, I sometimes had to chase emus out of the school playground before children arrived. In the first photo below, you can see my first school. It was 100km from the nearest town. Children lived on sheep and cattle stations.

The second photo shows you a close up of emu feathers. They feel almost furry but, of course, emus have feathers and not fur. You can also see an emu wing but, of course, they can't fly.

Schools and students have permission to use this graphic for non-commercial, educational purposes.

Schools and students have permission to use this graphic for non-commercial, educational purposes.

Schools and students have permission to use this graphic for non-commercial, educational purposes.

Schools and students have permission to use this graphic for non-commercial, educational purposes.

Martin and Zyne – Auckland Museum was full of amazing displays of history, culture and nature but it was the moa I most liked to see. It would be amazing to see a living one but, unfortunately, they are now extinct.

Schools and students have permission to use this graphic for non-commercial, educational purposes.

Schools and students have permission to use this graphic for non-commercial, educational purposes.

Jenna, Hilary and Claire – While I don’t have a photo of my own of the hoatzin adult, below is one accessed from Wikimedia Commons. They are amazing looking birds.

As far as emus go, I really only call them male or female although, as with other birds, you could call females “hens” and males “cocks”. In the post for Daniel, I mentioned males tend to make a grunting sound. I searched through my archive of video clips I have taken and found one where, if you listen carefully, you can hear what I think is the grunting sound of a male emu (on the right of the trio). Soon after Europeans first settled Australia, two species of emu became extinct and fossils show there was a third. The Tasmanian emu was thought to have become extinct in the mid 1800s. What we do have are three types of the one species of emus, Dromaius novaehollandiae novaehollandiae (in the south) and Dromaius novaehollandiae woodwardi (in the north) and Dromaius novaehollandiae rothschildi (in the south-west). Being the same species, they look similar but do have some differences. I will let your class know when I have my dinosaur post ready for my local school.

By Kate from UK (Hoatzin  Uploaded by FunkMonk) [CC-BY-SA-2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

By Kate from UK (Hoatzin Uploaded by FunkMonk) [CC-BY-SA-2.0 (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)], via Wikimedia Commons

Lane – When you see me write about many different things, I didn’t know about much of what I shared beforehand. It’s the questions people ask that give me the chance to research and learn more. As an example, in the comment above for Jenna, Hilary and Claire, they asked me how many species of emu there are. I did some research and now know there were other species but they have become extinct. We now have only one species with three subspecies. That was my learning from finding the answer. We don’t need to know the answers to everything but we must know how to find answers when we need them.

Schools and students have permission to use this graphic for non-commercial, educational purposes.

Schools and students have permission to use this graphic for non-commercial, educational purposes.

Peng Peng & Daniel – I’ve always thought the Chinese system of names make more sense when the family name comes first so I would be Mannell Ross rather than Ross Mannell but I didn’t know about family tree differences. My family tree includes both male and female ancestors but the further back in time we go the more my family tree looks like a family forest because there are so many relatives.  Look to the end of this post for some big maths about relatives.

There are a number of museums in London. I visited the Natural History Museum, the London Transport Museum, the Science Museum, and the British Museum. There were so many fascinating displays in each I couldn’t choose a favourite. Remember, I’m interested in very many things and took many photos. Here are a few…

Science Museum

Schools and students have permission to use this graphic for non-commercial, educational purposes.

Schools and students have permission to use this graphic for non-commercial, educational purposes.

British Museum

Schools and students have permission to use this graphic for non-commercial, educational purposes.

Schools and students have permission to use this graphic for non-commercial, educational purposes.

Natural History Museum

Schools and students have permission to use this graphic for non-commercial, educational purposes.

Schools and students have permission to use this graphic for non-commercial, educational purposes.

London Transport Museum

Schools and students have permission to use this graphic for non-commercial, educational purposes.

Schools and students have permission to use this graphic for non-commercial, educational purposes.

Imperial War Museum

Schools and students have permission to use this graphic for non-commercial, educational purposes.

Schools and students have permission to use this graphic for non-commercial, educational purposes.

Aya, Hannah and Kelly – Like many things in life, I am still learning. Answering your class’s questions, I have learned more facts. We should always keep or minds and eyes open to a world of learning. Writing comments and posts is my way of learning more and sharing what I find. All the knowledge in the world is no use unless we share with others.

What do I like about emus? With the kangaroo, they appear in the Australian Coat of Arms and so are a national symbol and, I think, remind me a little of dinosaurs from the past.

This is a public domain file.

This is a public domain file.

Some extra maths for Peng Peng and Daniel

I once looked at the numbers of parents, grandparents, great grandparents, great great grandparents, etc. we have. Before long, I realised there are so many every human on Earth has to be related to every other human somewhere back in time. Look at this maths…

If we go back only 10 generations (parents to great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, grandparents) there would be 1024 great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great grandparents.

If we go back 20 generations, there would be 1,048,576 great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great grandparents (that’s 18 greats).

Before you think I sat there working out all of this by hand, there is a maths trick we can use in a computer spreadsheet to work this out. If we start a spreadsheet and type the following into a cell,

=2^20

(for 20 generations) it gives you the answer…  1,048,576

=2^10 gives you 1024 for 10 generations

=2^25 gives you 33,554,432 for 25 generations

=2^30 gives you 1,073,741,824 for 30 generations

Can you see how big the numbers are becoming? By only 30 generations, there are over one billion great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great, great grandparents (that’s 28 greats).

Before long, there would be more people than there have ever been if everyone was still alive today. This means families marry into others families but, somewhere back in time, they were already related. We are all part of the same family. I am part of a family forest of which you are also part.

The Family Forest

Schools and students have permission to use this graphic for non-commercial, educational purposes.

Schools and students have permission to use this graphic for non-commercial, educational purposes.

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To see the post from Battalion Bloggers...

Save the Bilbies

After being one of the classes to receive some baby Australian animal card sets, members of the Battalion Bloggers class became interested in the bilby. This small marsupial, as they pointed out, looks a little like a rabbit. Being a marsupial, it is more closely related to kangaroos and koalas than placental mammalian rabbits. With their observation of similar appearance to rabbits and with Easter approaching, I mentioned Australia has chocolate Easter Bilbies as well as bunnies. 30c from each sale of the 150g Easter Bilby is donated to the Save the Bilby fund. Bilbies are endangered in the wild.

This extra information brought even more comments and questions so I decided to send a gift to the Battalion Bloggers. Here is a photo of one of three inside their gift...

Schools and students have permission to use this graphic for non-commercial, educational purposes.

Schools and students have permission to use this graphic for non-commercial, educational purposes.

Their post after receiving the gift, linked above, shared comments from the students. Below are my replies...

Jenna, Catherine and Hilary – It was the interest your class showed in bilbies and Easter Bilbies that gave me the idea to send them. While they can be bought online, the trio were bought in a department store.

Bilbies are desert dwelling animals so they aren’t found in my area. They are omnivores (eat plants and animals) and do look like rabbits but are marsupials (pouched animals) like kangaroos and koalas. Rabbits are placental mammals like us.

Unfortunately, no zoos near me have bilbies but Taronga Zoo in Sydney does. The bilbies at Taronga Zoo will be having a royal visit shortly…

https://taronga.org.au/news/2014-03-06/royal-visit-taronga

Because I sometimes send parcels, I keep some styrofoam packaging just in case I need to pack a special item. I knew to survive the trip to Canada the bilbies would need to be well packed. I thought the styrofoam would help protect them from heat and bumps. I was very happy when I read they arrived safely.

Taronga Zoo's bilby information video

Lane – Parcels can be mysteries before they’re opened. The tension builds as we open them and finally can see what’s inside. Seeing questions from you class about bilbies and their chocolate cousins gave me all the excuse I needed to buy some for a class so interested. It’s not the first time I have bought merchandise from the Save the Bilby Fund people but the chocolate bilbies are the tastiest. 🙂

Sam – Bilbies are very cute and I hope to be able to take some photos of my own but it seems I would have to travel to Sydney over 500km from here to do so. Next time I have the chance to visit Sydney, I’ll have to visit Taronga Zoo and hope my cameras can handle low light. The bilbies are nocturnal animals in the wild. They are active at night so they have low light their zoo area so visitors see them during the day.

Schools and students have permission to use this graphic for non-commercial, educational purposes.

Schools and students have permission to use this graphic for non-commercial, educational purposes. 

Melvin & Kale - Every year I would buy some chocolate Easter eggs for my class as a reward for their hard work. Since retiring, I haven’t had a class for which to buy them until your class showed interest in bilbies at just the right time of year. 🙂

Noam and Claire – The real bilbies are even cuter than the chocolate ones. Here is a link showing the bilbies in Perth Zoo on the other side of Australia. What I like about this link is it also shows the young joeys (baby marsupials) in the mother bilby’s pouch.

http://www.perthzoo.wa.gov.au/perth-zoo-breeds-threatened-bilby-5080/

Alex, Amy & Ethan - As cute as chocolate bilbies might be, I can’t resist the chocolate. That’s why I have photographed them. I keep the photos and eat the chocolate.

In the wild, the bilbies have suffered by the introduction of rabbits, foxes and cats to Australia. The Fund helps set up fenced areas to help their numbers grow. 🙂

http://www.savethebilbyfund.com/our-work.php

Martin, Cohen and Zyne – It can be a wonderful experience to receive an unexpected gift and try to guess what’s inside before opening the box. I would buy Easter chocolate for my classes every year. Now I am in contact with classes around the world, I only needed an excuse and your class’s interest in bilbies gave me the reason I needed. 🙂

Bilbies have even been included as characters in children's books here in Australia. Below is a photo of three books I have in my library...

Schools and students have permission to use this graphic for non-commercial, educational purposes.

This graphic should not be used & is only available to demonstrate some available bilby storybooks for children.

Hannah – I think we have something in common. As cute as they are, I wouldn’t be able to resist tasting the chocolate inside. We can buy Easter Bilbies online but here in Australia I know shops that sell them each year. They even have packs of 6 small bilbies but I liked the size I bought for your class because they are closer to the bilby’s size than the small ones.

Kelly and Kennedy – Can you imagine how hard it would have been to share only one bilby in class? I already had a box available and realised I should have been able to pack three bilbies safely inside. The foam was an attempt to protect them from heat and shocks so I’m not surprised that didn’t make a noise when the box was shaken. 🙂

Finally, a 4 minute 15 second video clip on Chocolate Easter Bilbies and their real cousins...

To see the fascinating original post on Arbor Day by Mrs. Ranney's class...

Astonishing Arbor Day - Then and Now!

Hello Mrs. Ranney and class,

I was fascinated by the tree photo you shared. Knowing exactly when a tree was planted and being able to see how much it has grown reminds us how change happens over time. For humans, 28 years would see us grow from newborn babies into adulthood and possibly as parents of a new generation.

Your tree, the silk floss tree, interested me because you shared it is related to the kapok tree. When I was young, our bed pillows were often filled with kapok fibres. Kapok pillows can still be bought and it's claimed "Kapok is resistant to mites, mold and mildew so its hygienic, non toxic, hypo allergenic and environmentally friendly." (taken from Kapok Pillows Australia website)

I know kapok was also an important resource around the time of World War II because it was used in life preservers but, when the Japanese captured the Dutch East Indies (now Indonesia), a new source of fibres was needed. From some research, I found children in U.S.A. collected milkweed pods to use their "silk". If they had a forest of your silk floss trees, they would probably have used them. They might have been an important war resource.

 

When I noticed your silk floss tree was planted in 1986, I remembered an old photo I only today scanned into my computer. It was a photo I took in 1986 of a tree in New Zealand. Let me show you Tane Mahuta, the kauri tree...

Schools and students have permission to use this graphic for non-commercial, educational purposes.

Schools and students have permission to use this graphic for non-commercial, educational purposes.

Tane Mahuta, Lord of the Forest, is 13.77m (45.2 ft) around its base. In the photo, you can see its trunk is about the same size up to the branches. To the top of its branches,  it is 51.2m (168 ft) in height.

Was I around when it was first planted?

No. No one is sure how old the tree is but it is estimated to be anywhere from 1,250 to 2,500 years old.

If this old tree could speak, I wonder what stories of long ago it might share?

Tane Mahuta has a part in Maori cultural heritage. Here is a link to the story of Tane Mahuta...

Tāne Mahuta: separator of heaven and earth

To see the 2013 post where Keira left her comment and questions...

What Stone Is That?- A Follow Up Post for Keira

This photo was supplied by Mrs. Yollis and class.

This photo was supplied by Mrs. Yollis and class.

Hello Keira,

In one of your comments you mentioned you had a plethora of questions. A superabundance of questions is the sign of an inquiring mind. It seems as though your questions have turned from astronomy to geology. As before, your words will appear in bold blue text.

Since the day I found the rock that you mentioned in the post at a camping site, I have treasured it. Recently, I went camping at the same exact site, and I found many more rocks that seem to have some kind of beautiful mineral inside of it. In fact, I collected a rock that is made out of all gem. I am a little disappointed that in comments, you cannot post pictures with the text. If I could, I would take a picture of all the rocks I collected so you could see them for yourself.

You have discovered the reason this blog was formed. I also found comments on blogs generally couldn’t include photos, videos or sound and were limited to only one link. A blog allows it all providing we know about being safe online.

When I stumble upon an interesting rock, I tend to have the instinct to pick it up. I know that you probably have that same instinct too, because you are like a walking encyclopedia, always gathering up new information. I said this because I wanted to know if you have either found or bought any new rocks yet. I also want to know which one you most likely do to collect rocks: Do you buy them from rock sellers more often, or do you collect them on your own outside more?

While I have collected rocks in the field, I am unable to travel as much as I once had so these days I am more often to buy samples if I find them interesting. I have recently added some interesting stones. See if you find these samples interesting…

The first photo shows flourite (calcium flourine) crystals. The green mat they're on have 1cm squares so you can see their size. Each crystal has 8 facets (faces), i.e. they are octahedral crystals. They have not been cut. A collector was selling some of his samples at a local country show.

Schools and students have permission to use this graphic for non-commercial, educational purposes.

Schools and students have permission to use this graphic for non-commercial, educational purposes.

In my area, different towns have markets on weekends. When visiting one, I found a man was selling geodes from Queensland. While I already had some, I was fascinated by this sample because it looks as though two fused together when they were formed perhaps 200 million years ago.

Schools and students have permission to use this graphic for non-commercial, educational purposes.

Schools and students have permission to use this graphic for non-commercial, educational purposes.

Here is one from my collection that has been broken open. They aren't as impressive as my Brazilian geodes but I like the Australian samples because they are from home.

Schools and students have permission to use this graphic for non-commercial, educational purposes.

Schools and students have permission to use this graphic for non-commercial, educational purposes.

I have yet a few more questions to ask you. Have you ever found a rock from a volcano? I think it would be most likely that you have because, in one of your posts, you said that you had seen a few volcanoes erupt. If, a couple months later, you had gone down to examine the area near the volcano, and you found a interesting rock, I think you would have kept it and put it in your collection. I know that if I found one, I would definitely keep it.

When collecting any stones, we must be aware whether or not we are in national parks where we are not permitted to collect stones and rocks. There are places where you can collect stones, including igneous (volcanic) rocks. When I can, I have collected stones but I have also bought many.

My favourite item from a volcanic area in New Zealand was collected by me (with permission). It was collected near a fumarole where the sulphur (U.S. spelling: sulfur) crystals were forming. Because sulphur crystals break down and lose their shine if exposed to water or moist air, the below sample has been kept in a perspex box since I found it over 30 years ago. The crystals still shine as you can see.

Schools and students have permission to use this graphic for non-commercial, educational purposes.

Schools and students have permission to use this graphic for non-commercial, educational purposes.

I have already written a number of posts on volcanoes. Below are links to some of the first posts written for this blog back in 2012...

Volcanoes Post 1

Scree and Obsidian

Aa and Pahoehoe from Hawaii

Pumice and New Zealand Iron Sands

Geological Hot Spots

New Zealand

Final Volcano Post

Another question is have you ever been in a cave where jewels were growing naturally? I asked that question because I heard on a science show that people can explore caves with jewels in them. I doubt that you have ever been in one, but I can not know for sure until you tell me the answer. If you have been in one, what kind of minerals did you see?

A cave of jewels… what a wonderful thought reminding me of the first time I saw the 7 dwarfs working in the jewel mine in Disney’s “Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs” when I was about your age. I dreamed of finding such a mine back then but I know finding a mine with gem quality stones is hard enough without expecting more than one type of gem. A diamond mine would be nice. 🙂

Below is an item in my collection measuring 5cm diameter across the top. Unfortunately, it is only a glass replica.

Schools and students have permission to use this graphic for non-commercial, educational purposes.

Schools and students have permission to use this graphic for non-commercial, educational purposes.

I have been in gold mines, coal mines and a couple other mines but the closest to a jewel mine would have been an opal mine. There are mines all over the world where jewels are found, some very unsafe for the miners. I only enter mines welcoming visitors on guided tours.

Perhaps Australia’s most famous jewel mine is the Argyle Diamond Mine in Western Australia. It is an open cut mine where they dig down making valleys not dig tunnels.  Here is a link to their website.

Argyle Diamond Mine

You might know diamonds can be different colours other than clear. Argyle’s most famous colour is pink. Click on the link below to see some of the colours in Argyle diamonds…

Argyle Pink Diamonds

This is the last question I have before the last question I want to ask you. I want to ask you if you have ever mined any type of mineral. If so, what did you mine?

When out hunting for stones, I often have my geologists hammer with me. The pointy end is use to chip into rocks and the flat end to break rocks. You could say I have used this in mining in a small way. The picture is below…

Schools and students have permission to use this graphic for non-commercial, educational purposes.

Schools and students have permission to use this graphic for non-commercial, educational purposes.

I have also panned for gold in old gold fields and hunted for rocks, crystals and fossils in many locations.

Gold

Some of this sample has been panned by me. Much was bought.

Schools and students have permission to use this graphic for non-commercial, educational purposes.

Schools and students have permission to use this graphic for non-commercial, educational purposes.

I bought this sample of gold in quartz from a place called Hill End where there was an active gold mine. I have been in a mine in the area but not the active mine.

Schools and students have permission to use this graphic for non-commercial, educational purposes.

Schools and students have permission to use this graphic for non-commercial, educational purposes.

A gold nugget from New Zealand, it is about 1.5cm across.

Schools and students have permission to use this graphic for non-commercial, educational purposes.

Schools and students have permission to use this graphic for non-commercial, educational purposes.

Fossils

The two fossils below were found by me at a rock fall site many years ago. The first shows a fossilised leaf and the second is part of a fossilised tree trunk.

Schools and students have permission to use this graphic for non-commercial, educational purposes.

Schools and students have permission to use this graphic for non-commercial, educational purposes.

Schools and students have permission to use this graphic for non-commercial, educational purposes.

Schools and students have permission to use this graphic for non-commercial, educational purposes.

 In this sample I picked up, you can see shells in the stone. Rather than fossils, they are still real shells embedded in stone.

Schools and students have permission to use this graphic for non-commercial, educational purposes.

Schools and students have permission to use this graphic for non-commercial, educational purposes.

I picked up the following shell embedded in rock from an open cut mine.

Shell 30,000 years old

Finally, I want to ask you if you have ever cut a rock open and discovered gems inside?

A gem is a stone used in jewellery so it can be anything from quartz to diamonds, emeralds and rubies. I have found quartz and amethyst in rocks as well as in rivers where they have been washed. Some of my stones are of gem quality but I have never found anything really valuable.

This quartz crystal sample might be of gem quality in part if it was cut but I like it as it is.

Schools and students have permission to use this graphic for non-commercial, educational purposes.

Schools and students have permission to use this graphic for non-commercial, educational purposes.

As you said in your post, you do not have a diamond cutter, but have you ever used one? If so, was it hard to cut the stone open?

I have seen them used but I haven’t used one. It’s a skill to be able to cut a stone well. I have stones I collected so I could use them if I had access to a diamond saw. They are known as chert and are reasonably easy to cut and polish but aren’t worth much. My samples have colour bands through them so they might look good cut, shaped and polished into cabachons.

Diamonds are not made into cabachons nor are other gems such as emerald and rubies. They are faceted. This means they are cut and polished to have faces. Turquoise, agate and opal are examples of stone often made into cabachons. Look at the images of assorted cabachons below.

CABACHON SAMPLES

Schools and students have permission to use this graphic for non-commercial, educational purposes.

Schools and students have permission to use this graphic for non-commercial, educational purposes.

Schools and students have permission to use this graphic for non-commercial, educational purposes.

Schools and students have permission to use this graphic for non-commercial, educational purposes.

Schools and students have permission to use this graphic for non-commercial, educational purposes.

Schools and students have permission to use this graphic for non-commercial, educational purposes.

Schools and students have permission to use this graphic for non-commercial, educational purposes.

Schools and students have permission to use this graphic for non-commercial, educational purposes.

A diamond saw is used on most stones, diamond being the hardest stone we can find. It uses a special saw blade embedded with diamonds. Before you think this is a waste of diamonds, most diamonds found are not of gem quality. They are industrial quality. I have seen websites selling these low quality diamonds for as little as $120 to $180 per kilogram.

If you have never cut a stone open, would you ever like to cut one of your stones open?

While I would like to be able to cut my own stones, time to do so and the money to buy the equipment means this isn’t possible. I have broken open some samples to look inside but mostly I keep them as I found them. One of the problems with being interested in so many things is finding the time to do them all but it is fun doing what I can.

Keira also had questions on a geology post. Here are some possible answers...

Curious Keira Asked About Geology

Hello Keira,

I have been looking at your comments and hope I can provide some answers to your questions. Remember, as your questions delve deeper into a subject, the answers can be more difficult to understand but this is what learning is about.  As we learn and understand simpler things, it can be easy to learn harder things. I am still learning as I search for answers. See what you can understand in the answers I try to give. What you have asked will appear in bold blue text.

Your comment from the beginning of March on the post…

Life But Not As We Know It

This NASA image was listed as in the public domain and was sourced through Wikimedia Commons.

This NASA image was listed as in the public domain and was sourced through Wikimedia Commons.

In my personal opinion, I think that Mars was once a beautiful planet, and there was life on this beauty. Since Mars did not have a very protective ‘umbrella’, Mars’ ‘umbrella’ shrank. Overtime, Mars got closer to the sun, burned, and sent life over to Earth, right past its ‘umbrella’. As Earth evolved, Mars lost its magnificent atmosphere, and moved behind Earth. Mars soon lost everything it once had owned, life and beauty. Now taking Mars’ place is Earth. As you may know, I have a plethora of questions to ask you. Do you think my idea may be possible?

Science doesn’t tend to talk much of the impossible and prefers the word improbable. To be impossible means there is absolutely no chance of something happening no matter what might change. Improbable means it’s not very likely so if something is improbable it can happen but it is far more likely it won’t. Based on what we know at this time, your idea comes under the improbable in some parts and probable (likely) in other parts.

Look at the video clip below from NASA. It is an animator’s view of the evolution of Mars based on the information NASA has. The journey starts about 4 billion years ago and shows a water planet up till today as we know it to be. Do you think it would have been beautiful? I know it still has a beauty today but not as a water world such as ours.

“Mars was once a beautiful planet” – I think this is probable if you mean having rivers, lakes and seas but improbable if you think it had trees and large animals moving through them. Life would have been simple if it had evolved. I think there is a good chance we will eventually show life existed on Mars and may still be in the soil in some areas.

Watch the video clip below looking at NASA’s findings on Mars. It shows us Mars probably had the right conditions for life to begin. With a proposed mission in 2020, we might be able to show Mars had life.

There is evidence Mars once had liquid water on its surface but the thin atmosphere can’t keep heat in as on our planet. The average temperature of Mars is around    -60C. With water freezing at 0C, liquid water isn’t likely. However, at Mars’s equator, summer daytime temperatures can reach 20C only to drop to -70C at night. While 20C is enough for water to be liquid on Earth, I think the thin atmosphere would only allow ice to turn to water vapour and not liquid on Mars.

Yes, Mars also has seasons because it is tilted only slightly more than Earth, You might remember a post about Earth’s tilt I wrote for your class, Earth’s Tilted Seasons.

Here is another video clip looking at Earth’s magnetosphere (umbrella) and the discovery of the outer and inner core. Mars doesn’t seem to have a molten outer core and solid inner core to create the magnetic field to protect it as we have on Earth.

Mars did not have a very protective “umbrella” – Mars probably had an “umbrella” (or magnetosphere) and much thicker atmosphere in its beginning but, as the core cooled, it lost much of it starting perhaps 4 billion years ago. Without the protection of a strong magnetic field, energy from the sun made Mars lose most of its atmosphere. Remember, it’s because of Earth’s liquid and solid iron core we have the magnetosphere (umbrella) to protect us.

As Earth evolved, Mars lost its magnificent atmosphere, and moved behind Earth. -  Earth and Mars would probably have formed at around the same time. Our sun was probably formed when a molecular (atoms of matter) “cloud” collapsed through gravity. Not all of the “cloud” was used in making up the sun. The matter remaining in what is known as the accretion disk started coming together under gravity. Much of this extra matter became the planets.

Formation of the Solar System

Earth Formation

Have you ever encountered someone who has an idea of how Mars lost its beauty that you think is true?

While I have not personally met a scientist who can say what had happened, there are a number of references and videos online to help us. As with all information on the internet, it’s best to use reliable sources such as NASA when looking for information. In sharing the video links I have given you, I first check links to see if they’re from a source I trust. I also find many with sometimes strange ideas from sources I don’t know. I usually don’t use these unless I have reason to believe they are accurate.

Do you think there could have been life on other planets, too?

In the video clip below from National Geographic, it asks what aliens might really look like. No one has proof of life other than on Earth at the moment so we don’t really know what life on other planets might look like. We may only have an idea of what might be needed. The clip shows on higher gravity planets, animals would need to be stronger and stockier (bigger) than on Earth or probably spindlier (thin looking) on a planet with less gravity. Some planets might only have life like the bacteria we have here. Until we find extraterrestrial (not of Earth) life, we can only guess.

While we have no proof at this time life exists on any planet other than Earth in our Solar System, I suspect life may be in many places across the universe in some form or other. We know life on Earth can exist in a very wide range of habitats (environments where life exists). Life can be found deep under sea near volcanic vents or locked in ice on mountains.

I have seen estimates of the number of galaxies in our universe being anything from 100 billion to 500 billion. For our galaxy, the Milky Way, the number of planets might be anything from 100 to 400 billion. If we take the lower estimates for galaxies and using the low estimate for planets in our galaxy to work out how many planets there might be in the universe, we would get…

100 billion (galaxies) x 100 billion planets = 10 hextillion planets

That is…

10,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 planets in our universe

What a waste of space it would be if the only life in the universe was to be found on our small, blue planet.

Where do you get all these facts?

When I see posts or questions I find interesting, I sometimes remember information I have read or seen in the past. If I decide to write a post, I usually have to search for extra information online or in books in my library. I try not to post anything unless I believe the information I find is the best available in my research. Because of this, I sometimes have to make changes to posts if I later find I have made mistakes.

The skill is to know how to find information, work out whether it might be true then use it to help others.

Your comment from March 26 on the post…

How Did the Earth Begin?

First of all, I am wondering why early scientists thought that the sun and every other planets orbited around us?

When we look up at night, we can see the stars. Watch long enough and you notice them move. During the day, the sun rises in the east and sets in the west. Surely the sun, planets and stars must orbit the Earth because we see them move and not us. This was the thinking and it can seem reasonable. It's what we seem to see.

Schools and students have permission to use this graphic for non-commercial, educational purposes.

Schools and students have permission to use this graphic for non-commercial, educational purposes.

Consider this, you are on a speeding train looking out of a window. The landscape is zipping past your window very quickly. Is it the landscape moving or the train moving through it? While saying the train is moving might seem reasonable, surely this couldn't be true for the Earth? The Earth is so big compared to the small stars and planets in the sky. The Earth must be still and everything else in motion.

As early as the 3rd century BCE, a man named Aristarchus suggested the sun was the centre of the solar system but it wasn’t until the work of a man called Nicolaus Copernicus in the early 1500s a sun-centred (heliocentric model) solar system began to be accepted. It was also around this time the first telescopes seem have made an appearance. Astronomy had its start in astrology but started to emerge as science with telescopes allowing better study.

Optical Telescope dome at Warrumbungles National Park 

Schools and students have permission to use this graphic for non-commercial, educational purposes.

Schools and students have permission to use this graphic for non-commercial, educational purposes.

If they had had technology back then, would they still have thought that everything orbited around us?

There are still many people today who believe the Earth is at the centre of the universe (geocentric model). They believe it is fixed in place and doesn’t rotate on its axis. The more modern model has the Moon orbiting Earth. Further out the Sun orbits Earth while the other planets and their moons orbit the sun. The other stars and galaxies we see are all further out forming a sphere around central Earth. This comes down more to what I think is misguided faith (believing no matter the evidence against).

I see problems with the idea. As example, if the Earth didn’t rotate on its axis, to have day and night the sun and all of the planets orbiting it would have to orbit the Earth every 24 hours and this is not what we see. Secondly, spacecraft such as the two Voyager missions and missions to Mars were sent out based on known positions of the planets orbiting the sun. If the centre Earth model had been true, the Voyager and Mars missions would have failed.

Another question I have is about how many other galaxies are out there?

I have given information on this above. There are estimates there could be anything from 100 billion to 500 billion galaxies in the universe.

The number of people alive on Earth is heading towards 8 billion. Using the numbers above, there would anywhere from about 12.5 to 62.5 galaxies for every person on Earth. That’s a lot of galaxies.

In the image below sourced from NASA through Wikimedia Commons, there are around 5500 galaxies in view. To make the low estimate for the number of galaxies in the universe (100 billion), you would need to show approximately 18 million photos showing 5500 galaxies.

This NASA image was listed as in the public domain and was sourced through Wikimedia Commons.

This NASA image was listed as in the public domain and was sourced through Wikimedia Commons.

One more question I have is how did those giant stars form in the last video?

Let’s show that video clip again…

I would say it’s all a matter of matter and time.

Stars spend most of their “lives” as what is known as main sequence stars where they are burning hydrogen through something called nuclear fusion. Hydrogen becomes helium. Like any fire, the fuel can run out. As this happens the star’s core gets larger and starts burning helium and fusing it into carbon and oxygen. If the star has enough mass and other features, the star is known as a supergiant star.

The supergiant stars lose mass quickly. Some of these supergiants can be quite bright and losing mass very quickly. They are the hypergiant stars like the one in the video known as VY Canus Majoris. If it was at the centre of our solar system, it would be so big it would reach out beyond Jupiter.

The very large stars have been burning their fuel making new elements. When they get to the stage of making iron then eventually trying to fuse it, the star’s core can collapse and cause what is known as a supernova (a very big explosion of light and matter). What can be left behind could be a black hole (singularity), a neutron star, quark star or a magnetar.

Back in 1987 we were able to see a supernova explosion without using a telescope. A new star seemed to appear where only powerful telescopes might once have seen it. It eventually faded but I remember seeing what looked like a new dot in the night sky. Nova SN 1987A was about 168,000 light years from Earth. What this means is the light I was watching started out from the nova about 168,000 years ago. When we look deeper into space, we are looking back in history. Even the sunlight hitting you in daylight has taken over 8 minutes to reach us.

Look at the clip below. It gives information about SN 1987A and its jouney to supernova…

In the future, VY Canus Majoris will go supernova. What can be interesting is the matter thrown off when it does may be the resources other solar systems need to form.

Also, how did humans know that there are bigger stars than the sun?

Since the beginning of humans, they have been able to see stars in the sky. As knowledge and science has advanced, we have been learning more about the universe.

Optical telescopes brought the moon, planets and stars closer. Radio telescopes picking up the “sound” of space brought us more information. The Hubble telescope orbiting earth allowed us to see even further into space than telescopes on Earth. Computers help us model systems and calculate small changes in orbits of distant stars telling us of orbiting planets. We have learnt so much since the time the first cavemen looked up and saw the stars yet we still know so little. It’s like many things in life, the more we learn the more we realize how little we know.

 Parkes Radio Telescope

Schools and students have permission to use this graphic for non-commercial, educational purposes.

Schools and students have permission to use this graphic for non-commercial, educational purposes.

Finally, do you think that there are larger stars than the last one in the final video in the post?

VY Canus Majoris is listed as the largest known hypergiant star. The important word is “known”. There could be far bigger stars out there somewhere. Perhaps if you become an astronomer you might discover a much larger star somewhere in the universe. What would you call it? It might still be called a hypergiant but it might have some properties making it different to hypergiants and the superhypergiants could be born. I would think such hypermassive stars would not last a long time before going supernova, or would it be hypernova? Science has many mysteries still to explain.

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Year 4 students at Barwon Heads PS were looking at arrays for use in multiplication...

Arrays All Around

Hello Year 4,

After reading your post, I wondered what arrays I could find amongst my photo collection. Here are some I found...

Windows on an old prison at Port Arthur, Tasmania.

Schools and students have permission to use this graphic for non-commercial, educational purposes.

Schools and students have permission to use this graphic for non-commercial, educational purposes.

4 rows of 8 windows

4 x 8 = ?

Artwork on a class wall

Schools and students have permission to use this graphic for non-commercial, educational purposes.

Schools and students have permission to use this graphic for non-commercial, educational purposes.

3 rows of 3 artworks

3 x 3 = ?

Pattern on a sofa

Schools and students have permission to use this graphic for non-commercial, educational purposes.

Schools and students have permission to use this graphic for non-commercial, educational purposes.

4 rows of 6 square patterns

4 x 6 = ?

Artwork on a class wall

Schools and students have permission to use this graphic for non-commercial, educational purposes.

Schools and students have permission to use this graphic for non-commercial, educational purposes.

4 rows of 7 artworks

4 x 7 = ?

Windows on Buckingham Palace

Schools and students have permission to use this graphic for non-commercial, educational purposes.

Schools and students have permission to use this graphic for non-commercial, educational purposes.

2 rows of 6 windows

2 x 6 = ?

Panels in a stained glass window

Schools and students have permission to use this graphic for non-commercial, educational purposes.

Schools and students have permission to use this graphic for non-commercial, educational purposes.

5 rows of 3 square stained glass panels

5 x 3 = ?

Tubes in an old steam boiler

Schools and students have permission to use this graphic for non-commercial, educational purposes.

Schools and students have permission to use this graphic for non-commercial, educational purposes.

 5 rows of 6 steam boiler tubes

5 x 6 = ?

To see the Battalion Bloggers post...

A Surprise Package Inspires Action! 

Hello Battalion Bloggers,

In your reply to my comment, there seems to have been interest in the chocolate treat available for Easter in Australia, namely the chocolate Easter Bilby. I thought I would find what I could buy to photograph for you to see. Below are two photos of an Easter Bilby. This one is packed with 150g of chocolate. You can see 30c from each sale goes to the Save the Bilby Fund.

The Save the Bilby Fund site also has information about bilbies as well as photos of bilbies. They are very cute little marsupials and, in my opinion, much cuter than rabbits. No, their site does not sell chocolate bilbies and it would be a long way for the Easter Bilby to travel to drop off chocolate bilbies in Canada. 🙂

April 9 - The secret is now out. With their fascination for the bilby, the Battalion Bloggers were sent three chocolate Easter Bilbies for Easter. As you can see in the pictures below, 30c from each was donated to the Save the Bilby Fund.

Schools and students have permission to use this graphic for non-commercial, educational purposes.

Schools and students have permission to use this graphic for non-commercial, educational purposes.

Schools and students have permission to use this graphic for non-commercial, educational purposes.

Schools and students have permission to use this graphic for non-commercial, educational purposes.

 

Here is a Wikipedia link for bilby information…http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Macrotis.

A Visit to Mogo Zoo

I mentioned to Peng Peng I had visited Mogo Zoo recently so I thought I would share some photos I had taken on that day. Animals are fascinating and I am always looking out for more photos to add to my collection. All of the below photos were taken by me and I am giving permission for schools and students to use them graphic for non-commercial, educational purposes.

White Lion

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Schools and students have permission to use this graphic for non-commercial, educational purposes.

Snow Leopard

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Schools and students have permission to use this graphic for non-commercial, educational purposes.

Silvery Gibbon

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Schools and students have permission to use this graphic for non-commercial, educational purposes.

Pygmy Marmoset

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Schools and students have permission to use this graphic for non-commercial, educational purposes.

Meerkat

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Schools and students have permission to use this graphic for non-commercial, educational purposes.

Schools and students have permission to use this graphic for non-commercial, educational purposes.

Schools and students have permission to use this graphic for non-commercial, educational purposes.

Cotton Top Tamarin

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Schools and students have permission to use this graphic for non-commercial, educational purposes.

Common Green Tree Frog

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Schools and students have permission to use this graphic for non-commercial, educational purposes.

Black and White Ruffed Lemur

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Schools and students have permission to use this graphic for non-commercial, educational purposes.

African Serval

Schools and students have permission to use this graphic for non-commercial, educational purposes.

Schools and students have permission to use this graphic for non-commercial, educational purposes.