自然英语

Hello, this isWild Suzhou,

Today, we will betalking about Na Doi, a small fishing village in Thailand that was able to savethe fish populations that lived in their local river.

Na Doi is a smallvillage with around 75 households that is in northwest Thailand. In 1998, theynoticed the amount of fish in their rivers was declining, as fishermen weren’tcatching as family fish. They also noticed that the fish they caught weresmaller than they used to be. To fix the problem, the villagers decided to keepan area of the river off limits from fishing, hoping that the fish populationwould be able to grow.

Their projectworked, and now the section of the river is filled with larger fish and morefish. Even areas outside of the protected area have more fish nowadays,according to villagers. Na Doi is not the only village to have tried this.Dozens of other villages have decided to try the same thing, with similarresults. These results show that this tactic could be useful in larger scaleconservation of river animals, which are at higher risk than both land andocean animals.

In 2012, AaronKoning visited the river valley that the Na Doi lived in to see how successfulit really was. He spent several years visiting other villages in the area, andfound that the bigger and older reserves were more successful since they had givenmore time and space for populations to recover. However, even small reservesthat were the size of a bathtub were able to help struggling fish populations.

For Wild Suzhou,I’m Ciana, thanks for listening and see you next time.

The giant sloth is anextinct animal that could be distinguished by its large size. The species firstappeared 35 million years ago. They evolved from the Promegatherium, which wasanother large mammal, in South America. Their preferred habitat was forests.Later on, or 8 million years ago, they started migrating towards North America.During this era, a lot of other animals were migrating. It went extinct around12 to 10 thousand years ago. This was a ground sloth so it didn’t climb treeslike sloths today.
Like modern sloths, the giant sloth was anherbivore. It ate the leaves of the yucca tree, agave plants, and grasses.Since they were so tall, they were able to easily  grab the branches. Somespecies of the sloth were 10 feet tall and weighed one ton, while other speciescould stand up to 20 feet tall and weighed 4 tons. There isn’t a solid answeras to why prehistoric animals were so much larger back then, but somescientists say it is due to more oxygen in the air or simply more space. Thesloths could be more than double the height of a tall human.
There are lots of theories as to why the giantsloth species went extinct, and more than one factor probably contributed toit. The most likely explanation is that they were hunted to extinction  byhuman hunters. Another theory is that the end of the ice age caused theirextinction. 
For wild Suzhou, I'm  palm tree and thankyou for listening.

Hello, this isWild Suzhou.

Today, we willtalk about fritillaria delavayi, a small flower that grows in Southwest Chinathat recently has changed a lot.

Fritillariadelavayi is a small, yellow plant that is often used in traditional Chinesemedicine to treat illnesses like bronchitis and coughing. This flower belongsto a group of flowers, known as fritillaries. It has 3 to 5 bright greenleaves, and once a year blooms with a single flower. This flower is a brightyellow and looks sort of like an upside down tulip.

However, recently,the coloring of these flowers have changed a lot. In areas where thefritillaries are harvested more, this species has changed. The bright green andyellow flowers have become dull and are no longer as beautiful. Instead theyhave become grey and brown.

The reason forthis is because of their high demand. Since many people use this fritillariadelavayi in traditional medicine, people want it more. Because people want theflower, more of them are harvested from the wild. A kilogram of these littleflowers needs more than 3500 flowers. But how does this affect their color? Thepeople who harvest the flowers are relying on their eyesight to find them, sobright yellow blooms will be easier to see and are picked more often. Thismeans that the remaining flowers are more brown and gray, since they are harderto see. Because they are the surviving flowers, they will pollinate and thenext generation of fritillaries will also be brown and gray. This is an exampleof natural selection, since these duller plants are better at camouflage andcan better hide from humans, while the yellow flowers cannot hide from humansand will not reproduce.

For Wild Suzhou,I’m Ciana, thanks for listening and see you next time.

As the years go by more andspecies become endangered, and a large portion of those are birds.
The African gray parrot
The African gray parrot, also known as the congogray parrot is a species native to Sub saharan africa. Usually they live inrainforests, but they are becoming more popular as pets. But keeping them aspets has become harmful to their population. Some pet traders steal the youngbirds from their nests or will take the adult birds since they are easy tocatch. They ship them in unsafe conditions which causes them to die, and theirhabitat is also decreasing due humans starting to occupy their spaces. They areone of, if not the smartest parrots. They are able to mimic other sounds andtalk. They Are herbivores and eat all kinds of fruits and plants.
The California condor
The majority of california condors live incalifornia, but can also be found in neighboring states to the south. Theirhabitat is deserts and dry rocky areas. Like other vultures, this bird eats thecarcassases of large mammals. The reason for their decline in population isn'tnatural predators, as they are scavengers. Some of the food they eat iscontaminated which causes them to be sick. They have a wingspan of 9 feet andweigh 20 pounds. They have quite a long life span and can live for 60 years.
The Mariana Fruit dove.
The Mariana fruit dove inhabits tropical forestsin the Northern Islands of Guam, where the climate is very rainy and humid.Their favorite foods are papaya and figs, since they live in rainforests thereis an abundance in fruits. The reason for their endangerment is an invasivespecies, the brown tree snake was accidentally brought to Guam and startedpreying on the birds. Like lots of other endangered animals, habitatdestruction also contributes to the issue. 
For wild Suzhou I'm palm tree and thank you forlistening.

Hello, this isWild Suzhou.

Today, we will betalking about bobbit worms, also known as sand strikers. These frighteningcreatures live under the seafloor and are sneaky and quick predators.

First, what arebobbit worms? They are marine worms that can be anywhere from 10 centimeters to3 meters long. They can come in many different colors, from brown, to purple toblack. Their bodies are soft but have an exoskeleton, just like a spider or abeetle would have. Bobbit worms are ambush predators, using their antennae tosense for prey, grabbing them with their strong jaws, and then pulling theminto their burrows.

Newly foundfossils show that these worms may have been around in the ocean around 20million years ago. The fossils found are called trace fossils. A trace fossilis different from what most people expect fossils to be, because they areevidence of footprints, trails, and burrows that ancient animals used to livein. In this case, scientists found trace fossils of the burrows that bobbitworms live in. These fossils were found by biologist Masakazu Nara when he noticedthe weird burrows in the rocks he was studying. They were unlike anythingscientists had seen before.

It took some hardwork to figure out what had made the fossils, but two things helped scientiststo find the answer. First, the tops of the burrows were eroded, or worn down,shows that there was an animal moving in and out of the tunnel. The shape alsoshowed that the animal was moving out of the burrow quickly, like bobbit wormsquickly ambushing prey. Second, the tops of the burrows were rich in iron. Thisis because bobbit worms release mucus to stop the burrow from wearing down asquickly. Bacteria will feed on the mucus, creating a compound known as ironsulfide, which has iron in it.

Finally, newfossils have been found in Canada that are around 400 million years old, withsigns of worms that move and act like bobbit worms do. Maybe one day, evenolder fossils could be found with fossil evidence of the intriguing and uniquebobbit worm.

For Wild Suzhou,I’m Ciana, thanks for listening and see you next time.

Hello Welcome to WildSuzhou, today I am talking about 3 very small animals.
Just looking at the Brookesia Micra, it doesn’tlook very striking or unique,  but when you look at its size that's whenyou can see what makes it different. Another name for them is the Leafchameleon. They are only 3 centimeters long, since they are so small they alsoweigh barely anything.  They eat small crickets and flies and theirpredators are small mammals and birds. The Brookesia Micra lives on the Islandof Madagascar, in Mountainous forests where there is lots of foliage to hide in.
The etruscan shrew is one of the smallestmammals, it's closely related to moles. They are 3-5 centimeters long. Eventhough they are very small they eat a lot, small mammals like the shrew usuallyhave a fast metabolism and need lots of energy. During the winter, since theydon't hibernate, they are able to shrink their bodies so they consume lessenergy. It lives in parts of South Asia, and coasts around the mediterranian.
The last animal is the pygmy seahorse. It’s only2 and a half centimeters long. Their small size allows them to hide andcamouflage very well, as they blend in with their surrounding coral. They havebumps and texture on them to look like the coral, and they also are the colorof the coral they live on. When the baby pygmy seahorses are born they arebarely 2 millimeters. They live in the indo pacific ocean.

Hello, this isWild Suzhou.

Today, we willtalk about adaptations, and look at some interesting examples of adaptationsthat animals have made.

First, what is anadaptation? It’s how animals change so that they can survive better indifferent places. For example, animals that live in cold places might havethicker, warmer fur, like bears. Another example would be birds that live in ornear water, who have evolved to have webbed feet. These adaptations happenbecause they make life easier for the animals that adapt.

This idea ofadaptation is closely related to Darwin’s theory of natural selection, alsoknown as “survival of the fittest”. This means that some animals have traits,or characteristics, that make them survive better. A bear with thicker fur willdo better in the winter than one with thinner, less warm fur. The second bearmight even die. This means that the first bear will survive and reproduce, soits babies will also have thick fur and survive better.

There are threemain types of adaptations: physiological, structural and behavioral. Aninteresting physiological adaptation occurs in five families of Antarctic fish,who have a special protein in their blood that prevents their blood fromfreezing up. This stops the fish from freezing to death, and because this is souseful, these five families of fish make up 90% of all the fish in that area.An example of a structural adaptation would be giraffes, who have longer necksso they can reach leaves on tall trees. Finally, an example of a behavioraladaptation would be penguins huddling together to stay warm. Another would bebirds migrating in the winter, since they are looking for food and resources,and also a place to mate and lay their eggs.

For Wild Suzhou,I’m Ciana, thanks for listening and see you next time.

The andean condor lives in the andes mountains,as well as grasslands, lowland deserts, and coastlines. The climate in theandes can be very harsh, in some parts it is very rainy and others quite dry.The andean condors use the natural environment to grow their offspring, insteadof having to make nests they will lay their eggs up high on a cliff or in acave to protect them. The adults will scavenge for food and bring it back tothe offspring. 

Adult andean condors don't have any predatorssince they are at the top of the food chain. The andean condor population issuffering because some farmers add poison to their animals' carcasses to keepthem away. Originally it was just to keep larger predators away but if thecondors eat the poison they will also be injured. The andean condor has a verygood sense of smell, they use it to find the best food options, their accurateeye sight allows them to see food high up in the sky. 

The andean condor is special because of howlarge it is, it's the largest raptor in the world with a wing span up to 10feet. They only weigh 30 pounds which seems small compared to their wingspan.This species is relatively rare, so its lifespan isn't really known, but itsestimated to be around 50 years and has lived up to 75 years in captivity. Theytake quite a long time to reproduce and currently their population isdecreasing, there are less than 7000 left.

Hello, this isWild Suzhou.

Today, we will betalking about mutations, and we will also look at a couple interestingexamples.

First, what is amutation? It’s when there’s a change in the structure of a gene. What does thatmean? Genes are what make your hair brown instead of red, or tall instead ofshort. They tell your body what you will look like and how you will survive.They are made from building blocks called nucleotides. There are four differentnucleotides. These are kind of like letters in the alphabet, and if you movethem around you can make different words that mean different things. Genes arelike different words.

Now, a mutation iswhen the gene is changed. Think of the letters in the alphabet again. Forexample, maybe your writing a sentence that says “I like chocolate ice cream”but you accidentally write “I like vanilla ice cream” instead. The meaning ofthe sentence has changed. When this happens to a gene, it will not do thethings it is supposed to do. Most of the time, this is not bad, but sometimesit can make people sick. Sometimes, the mutation is worse and instead ofwriting “I like chocolate ice cream” you’ve written something entirelydifferent. This can be much more dangerous.

Sometimes, though,mutations can be useful. Have you ever seen a really big strawberry? A mutationhappened which made the strawberry different, so instead of being a normalsized strawberry, it could be double or even triple the size! It can also helpanimals to survive, because if a frog is darker and has more patterns on itsback, it can blend into the environment better and hide from predators.

Hopefully, youlearned something new about mutations. Can you think of any mutations thatyou’ve seen before?

For Wild Suzhou,I’m Ciana, thanks for listening and see you next time.

The honduran white bats aremuch less scary than their other bat relatives. Instead of being dark andhaving not a lot of hair, these bats are white and have fur. They’re only 3-5centimeters long and weigh 6 grams. The wings, mouth, and ears are a lightyellow and orange color. Their color is special because they’re one of the onlybat species to be white instead of brown or black.
Like the name states, the Honduran white batlives in Honduras, it also lives in Costa rica and Panama. They live inrainforests that have a plant called the heliconia plant. They need it for it’sspecial leaves that they will use to make their shelter for a night. They cutalong the large leaves so it makes a tent shape that the bats are able to hangonto the middle and sleep. The plants are quite tall so they are able toprotect the bats from predators. Because of how it makes its shelter, it has anickname that is caribbean white tent making bat.
These bats sleep during the day but hunt duringthe night, this means they’re nocturnal. The honduran white bats eat fruit andplants. Like a lot of other small mammals in the rainforests, they have to bepretty careful of predators. Their most common predators are possums, snakes,bigger mammals, and owls. This species of bat isn’t endangered, but since itslives in the rainforest, it’s habitat is prone to being logged. their life spanis 15-20 years.