We stopped by to see the debut of Jenna’s art exhibit and were wowed by her creativity and passion for protecting animals. Here’s the exclusive interview from this young artist who tells us all about how she sold her paintings to help Bring Back the Wild™!
All About Jenna
Super Ranger Jenna
I have a big passion for animals and I like to imitate bird calls. My two favourite sports are baseball and soccer. When I grow up I want to be an engineer or an architect. I make lots of crafts! I use the things around me to inspire me about what I’m going to make. I try to use stuff that would get thrown away in my crafts. I made a dragon out of a coffee gift box my Mom got.
I heard about Earth Rangers at school. Then we went on a tour of the Earth Rangers building with my Mom and one of my brothers. We heard about great kids who have helped animals. That made me think I could do it too. I had a cool experience seeing a lemur Cosmo practice with his trainer.
Ranger Deed
Jenna’s painting studio
I decided to paint pictures of a bunch of animals and do an art show. I made a big fact board full of animal facts. I loved being the cashier and handing out my paintings. We had lots of activities for the kids like bubbles and side walk chalk. It was very exciting for me. I spent a lot of time explaining about the animals in my paintings. Some of them were elephants, lions, birds, cats and a lady bug. We had lemonade and my neighbour friend made cupcakes. I had lots of fun and at the end, I was tired but it was worth it!
Words of Wisdom
Jenna’s art work
If you want to help Earth Rangers, think of your own hobbies and try to do something from your interest. I love painting so I painted some pictures. You have to organize it and plan ahead. You have to raise awareness about what you’re doing so you get a good turnout. It’s great to hand out buttons to show that they helped. It makes them feel good. I had a good feeling too!
You can help Jenna Bring Back the Wild™, visit her campaign page and show your support!
Despite their names, Black and White rhinos are similar in colour. So how do you tell them apart? One of the best ways to figure out what kind of rhino you are looking at is to check out their lips. A Black rhinoceros has lips that are prehensile, which means they are designed to grab things, this feature comes in handy as they feed on leaves and twigs. Their cousins the White rhinoceros has square lips that are designed for grazing.
Dolphins are social creatures and to keep the conversation going underwater they have adapted a form of communication that uses short chirps. These sounds are perfectly designed for traveling through the water and that’s why we are following their lead. Scientists are studying dolphin sounds and using this information to improve how we communicate in what is known as biomimicry or nature inspired design.
To warn people about a tsunami’s massive waves sensors are placed deep underwater. Getting information from a sensor about a big wave way out at sea to people on land can be tricky, not only does this message have to travel quickly over a long distance it also has to go through water. That’s why scientists have started talking like dolphins! An underwater modem for transmitting data has been developed that copies the way dolphins talk, it is currently being used as a tsunami early warning system in the Indian Ocean. What other things do you think we could we learn from dolphins? Post your suggestions below.
Goodfellow’s tree kangaroos (Dendrolagus goodfellowi) live deep in the rainforests of Papua New Guinea. These hopping tree lovers have beautiful coats that are chestnut brown with long black stripes on their back! The females have a pouch for carrying their young, which are called joeys. These kangaroos have very strong arms and short legs, this helps them in the trees but makes them less bouncy then their relatives. They can only do two ‘kangaroo hops’ in a row so they get around by using little hopping steps. These adorable kangaroos come out at night to eat the leaves of trees, fruits and even cereals that they find at the edge of the forest.
Today the Goodfellow’s Tree kangaroo is endangered, its population has declined by at least 50% over the last 30 years. Deforestation has taken away this kangaroo’s home and today they rely heavily on protected areas, like national parks, to stay safe. You can help the Goodfellow’s tree kangaroo by learning more about the environment and sharing your know-how with friends and family. You can also take action to live green and help to protect species at risk with your Bring Back the Wild™ campaign.
That kind of accuracy is pretty important for these globetrotting animals that swim thousands of kilometers every year to migrate. Researchers found out the secret of Humpback whale migration after following 16 of them on their epic journey. These impressive navigation skills have researchers thinking that Humpback whales use the sun as well as the magnetic field to keep them swimming straight.
Horton, Travis, Richard N. Holdaway, Alexandre N. Zerbini, Nan Hauser, Claire Garrigue, Artur Andriolo and Philip J. Clapham. “Straight as an arrow: humpback whales swim constant course tracks during long-distance migrations” Biology Letters. 2011, 7(2).
If you decide to travel around the world, you will run into some pretty interesting plants. We have compiled a list some of the ones we think are the craziest looking.
#1 Dragon’s Blood Tree (Dracaena cinnabari)
Dragon’s Blood Tree Photo Credit: Boris Khvostichenko
Where I’m from: The Island of Socotra, off the coast of Yemen in the Indian Ocean.
Foliage facts: This relative of the palm tree has leaves that can grow 60 cm long and 3 cm wide. This plant gets its name from the dark resin that it makes. This ‘dragon’s blood’ has been used since ancient times for medicine and dyes.
Foliage facts: Banyans are a type of strangling fig that grows on trees, eventually covering them completely. This fig has aerial roots (in the air) that can start new trunks and get as big as 200 m in diameter and 30 m tall.
Where I’m from: Originally from India but it has been introduced to Sri Lanka.
Foliage facts: Talipot palms grow for 30-80 years patiently waiting then when they have enough energy they spring into action. The palm will grow a flowering stalk with a dull green fruit and over 20 million flowers that take about a year to mature then the plant will die.
Foliage facts: This plant makes a bright orange or red flower but don’t get too close because it lets off a gross odor that it uses to attract insects, which help with pollination. Everything but the flower of this plant grows underground where it connects to other plants and feeds off of them.
Where I’m from: Native to Namibia and Southern Angola (Africa)
Foliage facts: This unique plant grows two leaves when it’s young, keeping them throughout its crazy long life, an estimated 400-1500 years! Welwitschia lay on the ground (they only ever reach 500 mm in height) and over time they get tattered and torn.
#7 Black Bat Flower or Devil Flower (Tacca Chantrieri)
Where I’m from: South East Asia
Foliage facts: This plant produces around 25 flowers that are said to look like spooky bat wings. They also have heavy berries and long (25 cm) “whiskers” attached to the flowers that look like a forked tail.
Where I’m from: Southern Africa, especially South Africa
Foliage facts: The Sea urchin is very rare in its natural setting but every year thousands are grown to sell. Make sure you are careful if you ever run into one, they make a milky subsistence that is poisonous!
Where I’m from: Warm-temperate to tropical regions of Asia and northeast Australia
Foliage facts: This lotus is a lot like a water lily, they both grow their roots in muddy shallow water with the leaves and flower floating on the surface. What makes the Indian lotus special is the thing in the centre that looks kinda like an ice-cream cone.
Where I’m from: Originally from Southern Asia and Malaysia but it can now be found throughout the tropics
Foliage facts: This vine is a hearty grower reaching up to 6 m and over 10 m when it has things to climb. The Velvet bean also grows funky looking pods that are 10 to 12.5 cm in length, curved and covered with grey-white silky hair.
Communication is important to these very social animals; it allows them to pass down information to younger generations and form strong bonds with one another. Since elephants don’t have the greatest vision they rely heavily on their other senses, like hearing. When elephants communicate they often use low frequency sounds, called infrasound, some of which is passed through the ground. Elephants are great at remembering calls and figuring out who’s doing the talking. These massive mammals can pick out when a sound is being made by a family member, some older females can even recognize the calls made by of over 100 different elephants!
With spiky feathers that are brown with red streaks, Brown kiwis (Apteryx mantelli) are like the punk rock heroes of the bird world. They love to stay up late because they are nocturnal (nighttime loving) and have a crazy long bill with nostrils at the end. If that isn’t enough, they produce one of the largest eggs in proportion to its size – their eggs are 15% of the female’s body weight!
Male Kiwi. Photo Credit: Maungatautari Ecological Island Trust
Despite all these cool things, the Brown kiwi is endangered. As much as 90% of their population having been lost since the start of the 20th century. Loss of habitat and the introduction of new predators have spelled trouble for this bird. But today lots of people are working hard to save the Brown kiwi by protecting their habitat. You can help by sharing their story with friends and family, finding out more about biodiversity or protecting species at risk with your own Bring Back the Wild™ campaign.
Like shiny things? Well put aside your love for jewelry and check out these gold (Chrysina aurigans) and silver beetles (Chrysina limbata) whose shiny metallic shells come in handy for blending into tropical rainforests of Costa Rica.
Chrysina aurigans, Chrysina limbata. Photo credit: Eduardo M Libby
Water droplets are everywhere in a tropical rainforest, reflecting light in all kinds of directions. This creates the perfect place for a shiny gold or silver beetle to blend in and appear as a flash of light, fooling potential predators. These beetles have a great disguise for the tropical rainforest, but they sure would stand out if they lived somewhere else. Can you imagine one of these guys trying to blend in on a field of grass! What helps you stay incognito in one environment might make you stand out in another, so what kind of camouflage would you use to blend into a city, park or your backyard? Green and brown splotches, black stripes or a shiny blue coat? Tell us your answer in the comments section below.
Male Hooded seals (Cystophora cristata) are inflatable! Well a sac above their nose is anyway. When this sac is blown up it covers their nose like a hood (that’s where they get their name from). This sac looks like a red balloon and it is quite an extravagant sight that males will use to attract females and possibly threaten other males. Can’t imagine what a seal would look like with a red balloon on its face? Check out this picture to see what we mean.
Hooded Seal. Photo credit: Sea Mammal Research Unit
What’s the deal with the Hooded seal?
Hooded seals hangout around Bear Island, Norway, Iceland and northeast Greenland, this map shows just where these seals call home. Hooded seals usually spend time on their own but they come together for breeding and molting. They are able to dive as deep as 100m and dives have been recorded that lasted over 30 minutes! These amazing swimming skills come in handy when they are on the move following a yearly migration that keeps them close to drifting patches of ice. Hooded seals also have the shortest nursing period of any mammal, 5-12 days. In this short amount of time pups will double in size while the mom loses 7-10kg every day! Today Hooded seals that live in the northwest Atlantic have fairly stable populations but the northeastern Atlantic seals have seen their numbers drop by 85-90% over the last 40-60 years. To help out the Hooded seal learn more about how your actions have an impact on species that live in the North or start spreading the word about protecting animals and their habitats with your Bring Back the Wild Campaign.
