Dear Noah,
I saw this today and thought you might like it. Ask your momma to look them over and see if there are any apps she will install on the ipad for you. They look like a lot of fun!
http://ecologist.orkin.com/top-10-bug-apps-for-kids/
Tell me which one is your favorite if you try them!
love,
Nanny
Wednesday, August 21, 2013
Wednesday, August 7, 2013
Plants that eat bugs!
Dear Noah,
Last weekend and friend and I went to a very special place in Louisiana. It's a place where the plants eat the insects instead of the insects eating the plants!
This is called the Pitcher Plant. It grows tall, about as tall as your knee, and it grows like a tall, skinny cup. It even holds water like a cup. And it has sweet nectar under the hood at the top that insects like ants like to eat. But when an ant or another kind of insect crawls on it, they fall into the cup of water and drown and the plants eats them up.
Think this fly might get eaten??
This next one is called Sundew. There are different kinds of Sundew plants and this one is very tiny. You could probably hold this whole group of plants in the palm of your hand. Do you see how the leaves look like they have water on them? That's actually sticky nectar, like honey, that attracts insects. But if any insects tries to eat the nectar they get stuck and then the plant traps them and eats them.
Here's a video of a Sundew in action!
These kinds of plants are called "carnivorous" plants. "Carnivorous" means meat-eating. I am carnivorous and you are, too! But not very many plants are. Most plants just eat nutrients found in the soil.
This is a famous kind of carnivorous plants. It's called a Venus Fly-trap. Here's a video of one eating a bee!
Carnivorous plants are pretty cool, aren't they? I'm just glad they aren't big like trees so they can't eat birds and animals and people!
Love,
Nanny
Last weekend and friend and I went to a very special place in Louisiana. It's a place where the plants eat the insects instead of the insects eating the plants!
This is called the Pitcher Plant. It grows tall, about as tall as your knee, and it grows like a tall, skinny cup. It even holds water like a cup. And it has sweet nectar under the hood at the top that insects like ants like to eat. But when an ant or another kind of insect crawls on it, they fall into the cup of water and drown and the plants eats them up.
Think this fly might get eaten??
This next one is called Sundew. There are different kinds of Sundew plants and this one is very tiny. You could probably hold this whole group of plants in the palm of your hand. Do you see how the leaves look like they have water on them? That's actually sticky nectar, like honey, that attracts insects. But if any insects tries to eat the nectar they get stuck and then the plant traps them and eats them.
Here's a video of a Sundew in action!
These kinds of plants are called "carnivorous" plants. "Carnivorous" means meat-eating. I am carnivorous and you are, too! But not very many plants are. Most plants just eat nutrients found in the soil.
This is a famous kind of carnivorous plants. It's called a Venus Fly-trap. Here's a video of one eating a bee!
Carnivorous plants are pretty cool, aren't they? I'm just glad they aren't big like trees so they can't eat birds and animals and people!
Love,
Nanny
Tuesday, August 6, 2013
Dear Noah,
Have you caught any cool bugs to look at in your bug viewer? I would like to see what you caught!
I saw some cool bugs this weekend. Do you see them there on that wet stump? I saw them while I was kayaking. The bugs crawled up out of the water and then they crawled out of their shells and left their shells on the stump! You can see one of the live ones there on the stump. He has reddish eyes. These are supposed to be dragonflies, but the don't look like any kind of dragonflies I ever saw! How about you? Here are a couple of cool dragonflies for you. Do you have dragonflies in California? What color are they?
Love,
Nanny
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