‘Just another ordinary miracle today…..’

February 24th, 2007

OK just came back from Charlotte’s Web with the 3 L’s. They loved it. As did Mom and Dad. Another super super job by Disney.  Of course there was great conversation/questions after the movie, and we got to thinking and talking about science (again). Well actually I didn’t start it. Charlotte did.
“I’m nocturnal” she told Wilbur. “That means I work at night”. What other animals are nocturnal (animals that are more active during the night) I asked the 3 L’s?  A dog, a swan maybe not….
How about these guys?
An owl –we know they say “Hoo hoo” in the night and when Luke stays up late we call him ‘a night owl’, so an owl  must be nocturnal.
A fox for sure. We have one in our neighborhood that comes in the middle of the night to rummage through the trash.
A bat –yes– but how can they see in the dark? (They must be blind because Mom often says Dad’s as blind as a bat). Well.. Bats send out sound waves that bounce off nearby objects so they can tell where and how far away the object is. Cool! We call this skill echolocation.
A butterfly–no perhaps not. We’ve seen lots of them during the day. But how about a moth? Yes, they come out more during the night so they  must be nocturnal.
A hedgehog comes out at night so they must be nocturnal.
How about that animal that used to make the worst smell at night when we lived in Princeton? The skunk. Yes another nocturnal creature.
That cute cuddly creature that climbs trees and lives in Australia. The Koala. Yep. Nocturnal.
A mouse? Yes many mice are noctural. Well done. Now Mom’s made us a coloring sheet so we can colour the nocturnal animals we listed.
Oh one last thing…Are we nocturnal? Hmmm. Maybe Dad is. But not the rest of us. What’s the opposite of  nocturnal? Well scientists call  that diurnal.

Entry Filed under: education, family, kids, science, teaching