Galapagos Animals - Video

In this post, we figured we’d try doing a video post.  We did several classroom presentations during our 2-week break in Minnesota, and in those presentations we talked a lot about the Galapagos.  So we’re using some of the material we developed and turning this post into a video (it is about 9 1/2 minutes long).

If you like this format, please let us know!

If you want to see our best Galapagos photos, click here to get to our Galapagos photo album.  You can also get to it on the Photos page of our blogs.

Here are some other links that are mentioned in the video:

Blue-footed Booby Mating Dance (this is not our video)

Frigate Birds chasing Red-billed Tropicbirds (also not our video)

Study Guide Questions

1. Why don’t animals in the Galapagos have a fear of humans?

2. At what speed can blue-footed boobies hit the water while fishing?

3. How do blue-footed boobies prevent their wings from being harmed when they hit the water while fishing?

4. How do frigate birds get fish to eat?

5. What is the difference between a male and female frigate bird?

6. How do the long tail feathers on a red-billed tropic bird help it to evade frigate birds?

7. How can Galapagos Penguins survive as far north as the Galapagos?

8. What is El Niño?

9. Marine Iguanas are endemic to the Galapagos.  This means that (select one):

      a. They used to be found in the Galapagos, but are now gone.
      b. They are found in the Galapagos AND all over the world.
      c. They are found only in the Galapagos.
      d. They like to eat eggs.

10. Galapagos Tortoises can live to be (select one):

      a. Over 100 years old
      b. Never more than 100 years old
      c. Over 500 years old
      d. Less than 50 years old

11. Why did sailors and pirates like to use tortoises for food?

12. How does temperature determine whether a tortoise egg hatches into a male or female?

The Galapagos - How They Were Created

Here's our first Notes From The Trail post about the Galapagos.  We'll have 2 more Galapagos posts, the next one will be a video post about Galapagos animals.  Click here to see the post on The Wilderness Classroom site.

We also have a photo album up of our best Galapagos pictures.

Amazon rainforest in Peru - part 2 - Bio-gardens

Here's our second Wilderness Classroom post about our time in the Amazon rainforest in Peru.  We helped build a bio-garden in the local community while there.  This post tells about bio-gardens and why they are important as well as Reynaldo, an inspirational local man who came up with the idea of bio-gardens.  Reynaldo is part of CREES, a Peruvian non-profit, and the group with whom we traveled to the rainforest.

Within this post there is a link to a 1-minute video we created as well as an extremely well-done 5 minute video about Reynaldo.

Mystery Photo #8

Here's our next mystery photo post to The Wilderness Classroom site.  Click here to see clues and guess what it is.

Amazon rainforest in Peru - part 1

We're doing two Wilderness Classroom posts about our time in the Amazon rainforest in Peru, called the Manu rainforest.  This is a link to part 1.  In this post we talk about some of the animals that we saw and a bit about CREES, a Peruvian non-profit organization.  We traveled to Manu with CREES.