♻️March 4♻️

🦁Lions🦁

100

What do most male lions grow as they reach maturity? 

Manes!

The magnificent manes on male lions tell a story. Most male lions grow impressive manes the older they get. These manes grow up to half a foot long and are a sign of dominance. However, not all male lions have manes. ‘Maneless’ male lions are common in parts of Africa, such as Tsavo National Park in Kenya. This is thought to be an adaptation to the local climate, as manes can reduce heat loss.

200

True or False: Most wild lions live in Asia. 

False, most live in Africa!

Nearly all wild lions live in Africa, but one small population exists elsewhere! In the wild, there are two formally recognized lion subspecies. The African lion is found in Africa, south of the Sahara desert. The Asiatic lion exists in one small population around Gir Forest National Park in western India. Wild lions in the west and central Africa are more closely related to these Asiatic lions in India than to those found in southern and east Africa.

300

Lions have traditionally been dubbed King of the _______. 

a. Road

b. Savannah

c. Ocean

d. Jungle

d. Jungle 

Traditionally the lion has been crowned King of the Jungle, but when one observes a lion and elephant encounter in the African wild it is clear to see that King lion has a healthy respect for elephant. It might even be suggested that lions are a little scared of elephants. The strongest animal in the world is actually the African bush elephant, which is capable of lifting over 13,000 pounds, its own body weight from lying down. Even their trunks can lift over 400 pounds, thanks to over 40,000 muscles. For context, an adult humans have just over 600 muscles in their entire bodies.

400

What is a group of lions called?

Bonus: What are young lions called?

A Pride

A pride of lions is usually made up of related females and their cubs, plus a male or small group of males who defend their pride. The lionesses rear their cubs together and cubs can suckle from any female with milk.

Bonus: Cubs 

500

Does the male or female lion do more hunting? 

The females (lionesses)!

The social structure of the pride is based on specific roles. Lionesses are the primary hunters, while dominant males are responsible for protecting the pride's territory. Lion prey includes antelopes, zebras, wildebeest, buffalo, and other grassland animals.

🌾Garden Weeds🌾

100

These "weeds" blooming are a sure sign of spring, with ubiquitous yellow flowers which are followed later by billowy seed heads which children enjoy making wishes on and blowing away.

Dandelions

Dandelion is a short-lived perennial that will grow just about anywhere, regardless of soil conditions, but rich soil will improve its growth. They withstand frost and freezes and tolerate crowding. Heat and insufficient moisture will cause the leaves to get bitter, but it won’t kill the plant. Each seed has a pappus, a feathery parachute of soft, white hairs that makes it easily carried by the wind. Each plant can produce up to 20,000 viable seeds.

200

These ancient non-flowering plants produce spores, have stems and leaves but do not have roots, often growing on the sides of trees and rocks.

Moss

Mosses grow in many different environments, from cold snowy mountains to baking hot deserts. Because of their range of adaptations, they are able to occupy areas that are otherwise uninhabitable such as rocky ledges on mountainsides. In hot environments like prairies or deserts, one way that mosses tolerate heat is by becoming dormant. When they're desiccated (dried out) they can survive heat much better than when they're hydrated. Some mosses have even been known to survive temperature highs of 100ºC when dried out, and lows of -272ºC. That's a resilient little plant right there. 

300

These herbaceous flowering plants are characterized by their leaves and stems with sharp prickles, with a spiny top that blooms into a vibrant purple flower.

Thistles

Thistles have been said to be very important nectar sources for pollinators. Some ecological organizations, such as the Xerces Society, have attempted to raise awareness of their benefits, to counteract the general agricultural and home garden labeling of thistles as unwanted weeds. The monarch butterfly was highlighted as traditionally relying upon taller large-flowered thistle species such as Tall thistlefor its migration. Although such organizations focus on the benefits of native thistles, certain non-native thistles may provide similar benefits to wildlife.

400

This weedy plant has pollen which is shed in great abundance in late summer and is the principal cause of hay fever in eastern and middle North America. 

Ragweed

Each ragweed plant can produce over a billion grains of pollen, which can travel up to 400 miles in the air! 75% of people that are allergic to pollen are allergic to ragweed. Some people with this allergy also develop a type of food allergy which causes mouth itching with fresh banana, melons, sunflower seeds, honey and some other fruits and vegetables. 

500

This herbaceous perennial plant spreads by seed and by crawling stems that grow along the ground.

Hint: It's initials are C.C., one being a synonym for sneaking, the other a name.

Creeping Charlie

Creeping Charlie is easily identified by its growth habit. This plant grows close to the ground and usually forms a mat-like ground cover. The long stems have nodes where the leaves grow and these nodes will form roots if they come in contact with the soil. The kidney-shaped leaves tend to be shiny green and have scalloped edges. Creeping Charlie is well-noted for its rapid growth after the plant stops flowering.  

🌷Spring🌷

100

What month does Spring begin in the Northern Hemisphere?

What month do you feel like Spring begins in New York?

March

The reason the first day of spring was March 19 was because 2024 is a leap year. Leap years are caused by Earth's rotation. A year is 365 days, but technically it takes the Earth slightly longer to orbit around the sun. The Earth takes 365 days, 5 hours, 48 minutes and 46 seconds — or 365.2422 days — to fully orbit the sun, according to NASA. Those extra hours are eliminated from the calendar most years. But every four years, an extra day is added to February so the calendar and seasons don't get out of sync. If this didn't happen, the extra hours would add up over time and seasons would start to change. 

200

True or False: The smell of rain that is typically associated with springtime is called "petrichor".

True

Petrichor is the earthy scent produced when rain falls on dry soil. The word is constructed from Ancient Greek "pétra" meaning 'rock' and "ikhṓr", the ethereal fluid that is the blood of the gods in Greek mythology. Do you feel like the rain has a certain smell? 

300

What is another name for the start of Spring?

a. Spring Solstice

b. Maytime Merriment

c. Seasonal Switch

d. Vernal Equinox

d. Vernal Equinox

During the spring (or vernal) equinox in March, the sun’s direct rays cross Earth’s equator into the Northern Hemisphere. While it’s the first day of astronomical spring in North America, Europe and Asia, summer transitions to autumn in the Southern Hemisphere. The Northern Hemisphere continues to gain daylight until the summer solstice, as the sun traces a longer and higher path across the sky. The location of sunrise and sunset will also edge closer to the northern horizon until mid-June. During the equinox, the sun rises due east and sets due west everywhere on Earth except near the North and South poles.

400

Baby animals are typically born in the springtime, can you name all of these baby animals? 

1. Deer

2. Bird

3. Frog

4. Kangaroo

5. Fox

1. Fawn

2. Chick, Nestling or Fledgling

3. Tadpoles or polliwogs

4. Joeys

5. Kits, Cubs or Pups

Other baby names are a salamander being a salamanderling, mice are pinkies, porcupines are porcupettes, worms are wormlets, pigeons are squabs, frogs are froglets, baby roosters are cockrell, a fish is a fry and a platypus is a puggle!

500

What is the first spring month in the Southern Hemisphere?

September

Things are a bit backwards in Australia. The seasons are defined by grouping the calendar months in the following way: Spring - the three transition months September, October and November. Summer - the three hottest months December, January and February. Autumn - the transition months March, April and May. Winter - the three coldest months June, July and August. 

⛈️Meteorology⛈️

100

What type of weather phenomena is so frequent in this part of the Midwestern United States that it has an "Alley" named after it?

Tornadoes!

Tornado Alley is a loosely defined location of the central United States and Canada where tornadoes are most frequent. The term was first used in 1952 as the title of a research project to study severe weather in areas of Texas, Louisiana, Oklahoma, Kansas, South Dakota, Iowa and Nebraska. Tornado climatologists distinguish peaks in activity in certain areas and storm chasers have long recognized the Great Plains tornado belt.

200

True or False: You can figure out how far away lightning is by counting between the sight of a lightning strike and the sound of thunder.

True! 

Since you see lightning immediately and it takes the sound of thunder about 5 seconds to travel a mile, you can calculate the distance between you and the lightning. If you count the number of seconds between the flash of lightning and the sound of thunder, and then divide by 5, you'll get the distance in miles to the lightning: 5 seconds = 1 mile, 15 seconds = 3 miles, 0 seconds = very close. Keep in mind that you should be in a safe place while counting. Remember, if you can hear thunder, chances are that you're within striking distance of the storm. You don't want to get struck by the next flash of lightning.

300

What are the two ingredients needed for a rainbow to form? 

a. Love and Care

b. Thunder and Lightning

c. Water and Sunshine

d. A Leprechaun and a Pot of Gold

c. Water and Sunshine

Rainbows are formed when light from the sun is scattered by water droplets (e.g. raindrops or fog) through a process called refraction. Refraction occurs when the light from the sun changes direction when passing through a medium denser than air, such as a raindrop.

400

Precipitation is any liquid or frozen water that forms in the atmosphere and falls back to the earth. What are some types of precipitation?  

Rain, hail, snow and sleet! 

In meteorology, any result of atmospheric water vapour condensation that comes under cloud gravity is precipitation. The main types of precipitation include drizzle, rain, sleet, snow, ice pellets, graupel, and hail. Precipitation happens when water vapour (reaching 100 percent relative humidity) saturates a portion of the atmosphere so that the water condenses and ‘precipitates’ or falls. Fog and mist are thus not precipitation, but colloids, since the vapour of water does not condense enough to precipitate. 

500

Name the weather devices:

1. A device used to measure temperature.

2. The container that measures precipitation rates.

3. An instrument that measures air pressure. 

4. A device that measures the speed of the wind.

1. Thermometer

2. Rain Gauge

3. Barometer

4. Anemometer

🐑Lambs🐑

100

If lambs are baby sheep, what are adult male sheep called? Female sheep? 

Adult male sheep are called rams, adult females are ewes!

Despite some popular beliefs, sheep are intelligent animals with great memories. Research has shown that sheep can recognize up to 50 other sheep faces and remember them for two years. They are even able to recognize human faces! Other studies have shown that sheep can remember how to navigate complex mazes.

200

True or False: A group of sheep is called a flock.

True

A group of sheep is called a flock, but sheep do not remain in flocks simply for protection from predators. Sheep form strong bonds with one another, such as those between a mother and her lamb and other friendships. Studies have revealed that sheep can distinguish between emotional expressions, such as pictures of sheep with calm, startled, or fearful expressions. This is a very important skill for sheep, as knowing how other sheep feel is the basis for forming strong social relationships and keeping the flock safe.

300

What are the noises sheep make often called?

a. Squeaks

b. Bleats

c. Barks

d. Hisses

b. Bleats 

Sheep are capable of experiencing a wide range of emotions, just as humans do. Many studies have highlighted the ability of sheep to feel afraid, angry, bored, sad, and happy. Not only can sheep feel basic emotions, but their feelings can be very complex. For example, scientific studies have shown that sheep can be pessimists or optimists!

400

What happens to sheep usually once a year before lambing or in the spring before the warm weather arrives?

They are sheared.

Cutting or shaving the wool off of a sheep is called shearing. Shearing doesn't usually hurt a sheep. It's just like getting a hair cut. However, shearing requires skill so that the sheep is shorn efficiently and quickly without causing cuts or injury to the sheep or shearer. Most sheep are sheared with electric shears or shearing machines. The fleece is removed in one piece. A professional shearer can shear a sheep in less than 2 minutes. The world record is 37.9 seconds. The record was set in 2016 by Ivan Scott from Ireland. Scott set another record, shearing 867 lambs in just 9 hours.

500

What was the name of the sheep sock puppet which first made guest appearances in shows like Captain Kangaroo before getting her own show in 1992 on PBS?

Lamb Chop!

Lamb Chop has been described as a "6-year-old girl, very intuitive and very feisty, a combination of obstinacy and vulnerability...you know how they say fools rush in where wise men fear to go? Well, Lamb Chop would rush in, then scream for help." Lamb Chop, in all her shows, had referred to her close friend, a girl named Lolly Pincus. From 1960 to 1963, Lewis had her own musical-comedy network television show called The Shari Lewis Show. As children's programming turned more towards animation in the mid-1960s, she continued to perform in a wide range of venues.