Green Parenting Tips for Earth Month
Zoology for Kids
by Bethanie Hestermann
11M ago
Let’s talk about green parenting! ?   If you have kids, convenience rules … WE GET IT! But if you’re looking to make your family life a little greener, check out some of the ways we try to cut back on waste in our everyday lives. #1 Cloth cleaning wipes instead of paper towels ?   UPDATE! We currently use Marley’s Monsters UN-paper towels and no longer recommend the FinalWipe system pictured above. #2 Cloth diapers ?  Cloth diapering is not as bad as it seems!! And it cuts back on so much waste compared to disposables. Although both of our kids are now potty tr ..read more
Visit website
Earth Day: A Call to Empower Our Youth
Zoology for Kids
by Bethanie Hestermann
11M ago
This blog originally appeared as a guest post for The Conservation Project. Kids who care about wildlife and wild places tend to become adults who care about wildlife and wild places. Credit: U.S. Department of Agriculture (Flickr) (CC BY 2.0) On the heels of Easter Sunday, there’s another holiday to celebrate: Earth Day. Earth Day may not be as steeped in tradition as other national, international, and religious holidays, but it’s an important day for all of us who consider ourselves a part of the conservation community. While Earth Day is not as old as, say, Easter, the Earth Day N ..read more
Visit website
Creatures in Disguise
Zoology for Kids
by Bethanie Hestermann
11M ago
Some creatures make a living by pretending to be something they’re not. (Like Halloween, every day!) In one high-flying example, zone-tailed hawks fool prey down on the ground by mimicking the way turkey vultures fly, and sometimes even disguising themselves by flying among turkey vultures. Turkey vultures are scavengers, which means they eat “carrion,” the decaying flesh of animals that are already dead. When turkey vultures soar overhead, small animals don’t need to run for cover. They often recognize the vultures’ silhouettes and know they’re not in danger. Zone-tai ..read more
Visit website
Building A ‘Bug’ House
Zoology for Kids
by Bethanie Hestermann
11M ago
Today, we built a Bug House! This is a fun activity to do with kids of all ages that requires just a little bit of prep. We’re looking forward to seeing what types of bugs decide to stay in our humble abode! And even though we named it Bug House, it’s not just for bugs, of course, but also insects, isopods, arachnids, and anything else that would like to move in!  Our Bug House will become a reoccurring observation and discussion activity. Every couple of days, we’ll go out and check on the Bug House, see what’s moved in, and attempt to identify what we see. We’ll report back with our f ..read more
Visit website
Animal-Style Parenting
Zoology for Kids
by Bethanie Hestermann
11M ago
It’s almost springtime, and that means … babies! As humans, we can all more or less agree on what it takes to raise a human baby. However, outside of our species, the parenting experience varies drastically. Within the animal kingdom, some parents spend literally no time with their young, others spend their whole lives in family units, and most others fall somewhere in between. Humans tend to take the job of parenting pretty seriously; here are four other species that do the same. American Alligators Credit: Andrea Westmoreland (Flickr) (CC BY-SA 2 ..read more
Visit website
Fish Pee, Whale Poo, and Ocean Health
Zoology for Kids
by Bethanie Hestermann
11M ago
Back in October 2014, Asha de Vos, a Sri Lankan marine biologist, took the stage at TEDGlobal to deliver a 6-minute speech called “Why you should care about whale poo.” She spoke passionately about the devastating effects 200 years of whaling had on global whale populations. She argued that these animals’ importance extends far beyond their charismatic beauty. Rather, as “ecosystem engineers,” she said whales play an important role in maintaining the health of Earth’s oceans. Credit: Keith Gibson (Flickr) (CC BY 2.0) Whales contribute to o ..read more
Visit website
How Can YOU Help Polar Bears?
Zoology for Kids
by Bethanie Hestermann
11M ago
Polar Bear Female With Cubs Along the Beaufort Sea (Photo Credit: USFWS) In honor of Polar Bear Day 2023, we’re resharing this Q&A we did in 2021! For International Polar Bear Day, we did a Q&A with Twinkl. Read the article here, and learn how we affect polar bears by checking out our interview: What is the biggest problem that polar bears face today? Polar bears rely on Arctic sea ice to hunt their favorite prey–seals! These apex predators wait for seals to pop up through breathing holes in the ice, and then try to snatch them for a meal. Scientists say Arctic sea ice is shrinking at ..read more
Visit website
The Birds and the Bees
Zoology for Kids
by Bethanie Hestermann
11M ago
A hummingbird drinks nectar from a flower. Credit: gardener41 (Flickr) (CC BY-SA 2.0) If you’ve seen a butterfly land on a flower, you mostly likely witnessed something amazing—pollination, the transfer of pollen from one plant to another for fertilization. Since plants can’t get up and pollinate themselves, pollinators like birds, bees, butterflies, bats, and small mammals do it for them. Imagine a hummingbird drinking nectar from a flower in your garden. The hummingbird needs the plant’s nectar for nourishment, but the plant also needs the hummingbird. When the hummingbird moves on ..read more
Visit website
Grim Update on Endangered Vaquita Porpoise
Zoology for Kids
by Bethanie Hestermann
11M ago
UPDATE 2023: The estimated number of vaquitas left in the wild is now 10 or fewer. To learn more about the species’ slow march toward extinction, read this post from February 2017 and the linked post from July 2016.  Since we last blogged about the vaquita, the world’s most endangered marine mammal, in July 2016, the situation has become grimmer for these tiny porpoises living in the Gulf of California. Just yesterday, the IUCN-SSC Cetacean Specialist Group provided an update on the decline of the vaquita due to continued illegal gillnet fishing for totoaba fish in the vaquitas ..read more
Visit website
Green Parenting Tips for Earth Month
Zoology for Kids
by Bethanie Hestermann
1y ago
Let’s talk about green parenting! ?   If you have kids, convenience rules … WE GET IT! But if you’re looking to make your family life a little greener, check out some of the ways we try to cut back on waste in our everyday lives. #1 Cloth cleaning wipes instead of paper towels ?   UPDATE! We currently use Marley’s Monsters UN-paper towels and no longer recommend the FinalWipe system pictured above. #2 Cloth diapers ?  Cloth diapering is not as bad as it seems!! And it cuts back on so much waste compared to disposables. Although both of our kids are now potty tr ..read more
Visit website

Follow Zoology for Kids on FeedSpot

Continue with Google
Continue with Apple
OR