Ranger Rick articles from April 1997

Ranger Rick archives from April 1997

April foolers. (animals survive by fooling predators and prey using mimicry, camouflage and behavior)
April 1, 1997... On the first day of April, many kids play tricky pranks on their friends. Lots of animals are tricksters too. Bugs have a big problem: birds. Those frequent fliers like to eat bugs. But here's a sharp idea--a bug that looks like a thorn (see...

Adventures of Ranger Rick: Boomer Badger has a very strange adventure.(short story)
April 1, 1997... This was a big day in Deep Green Wood. One of Ranger Rick Raccoon's old friends, named Webster, was coming to visit from far away. Everyone was work- ing together to prepare a great welcome for Webster. Almost everyone, that is. Not far from...

More facts. (animals and plants and humans depend on each other)
April 1, 1997... The Land of Us doesn't really exist. Animals of one kind really don't help animals of another kind on purpose. But different kinds of animals--and plants--do depend on each other for their survival. It's all part of "nature's web"--where...

All eyes on ... peacocks. (people have watched beautiful peacocks for thousands of years and peacocks' feathers have eye-like designs that seem to look back)(Cover Story)
April 1, 1997... Peacocks are big, bold, and beautiful, and people have been wild about them for thousands of years--well, most people. Look at all these dazzling "eyes." You probably know they're part of a male peacock's feathers. Long ago, people hardly ever...

Feathery finds and ... funny facts. (about peacocks)(Cover Story)
April 1, 1997... For thousands of years, peacocks' brilliant eyespots have been turning up on all kinds of art. And peacock art is still around today--on stickers and fans, in colorful lights, and on masks, kaleidoscopes, and lots of other beautiful things....

Schoolyard alive! (turning parts of the schoolyard into animal, insect and bird habitats)
April 1, 1997... Bluebirds peeking from nest boxes. Tadpoles swimming in a pond. Tiger swallow- tails swooping around a butterfly bush. And over here, a class of students watching it all. A field trip to a nature center? Nope, it's a schoolyard. With some work...

Doctor Dinosaur. (Jack Horner found a dinosaur nest and changed what people thought they knew about them)
April 1, 1997... Who's Jack Horner? Here's a hint: He isn't little, and he doesn't sit in a corner. He's a scientist who likes walking around Montana, looking for dinosaurs . . . . . . and finding them! Jack found the first dinosaur egg and the first dino nest...

Dino riddles.
April 1, 1997... Which dinosaurs make the best police officers? Tricera-cops. Why do Ultrasauruses like to eat so much? Because they're diner-saurs. What kind of dinosaur did long-ago cowboys ride? Bronco-sauruses. What do you call a dino that lives...

Greenzine. (Things to know and do about nature.)
April 1, 1997... Whooping cranes are one of the most well-known endangered species in North America. Fifty years ago, only about 25 of them were left in the wild. Since then, many people have been working to help save these birds from extinction. Now there's...

It's a lion's life. (a mother lion and her kitten hunt and play)
April 1, 1997... Kruger doesn't look much like a "king of beasts" as he climbs around on his mom (see photo). That's because he's still a little cub. It'll be at least a couple of years before he grows the big bushy mane of an adult male lion and leaves home and...