Ranger Rick articles from December 1997

Ranger Rick archives from December 1997

Whitetail winter. (whitetail deer survive and thrive in snowy weather)
December 1, 1997... SNOW comes to the north country. Woods and fields quiet down. And look! There go the whitetails, high-tailing it to winter grounds. They're heading for the evergreens that shelter them from storms. These deer are wily in ways to keep warm....

Last March we did a story on whether animals can think. (three readers write about what they saw animals do)(Dear Ranger Rick)(Letter to the Editor)
December 1, 1997... Last March, we did a story about whether animals can think. We asked readers to tell us if they'd seen animals do something that looked like thinking. Many of you saw animals that seemed to be thinking about getting food: I saw a dolphin stick...

Readers also saw animals that seemed smart about getting out of places. (four readers tell what they saw)(Dear Ranger Rick)(Letter to the Editor)
December 1, 1997... Readers also saw animals that seemed smart about getting out of places: My cat jumped on top of my dresser and pushed the door knob with his paws. Then he jumped down and walked out the open door. Jessica Liddell Wellsville, UT My dog,...

Readers saw animals that seemed to be acting smart in other ways too. (three readers tell what they saw animals do)
December 1, 1997... Readers saw animals that seemed to be acting smart in other ways too: My sister threw a toy behind our dog's cage. (Our dog was out of the cage). The dog tried to crawl behind the cage to get the toy. She couldn't--her toy basket was blocking...

Adventures of Ranger Rick: Becky has a 'hare-raising' time high in the mountains. (short story)
December 1, 1997... Becky has a "hare-raising" time high in the mountains. Story by Jody Marshall; drawings by Alton Langford Becky Hare leaped into the air. "Yessss!" she whooped, landing gracefully in a pile of powdery snow. "Caught three at once that time....

More facts. (snowmobiles and how they can disturb the environment or be used so as not to cause environmental problems)
December 1, 1997... Snowmobiles are a type of off-road vehicle, or ORV. Other ORVs include motorbikes, dune buggies, and four-wheel-drive trucks. For many people, riding ORVs is a great way to have fun. Lots of people also use ORVs to get to roadless places, where...

It costs what? The price you pay for a T-shirt isn't even close to what it really costs. (the cost in raw materials, industrial pollution damage to the environment, workers' salaries, and transportation costs. are all added in)(includes ways to cut costs such as recycling , plus three Web sites to visit)
December 1, 1997... The price you pay for a T-shirt isn't even close to what it really costs. You wake up one Saturday and dig through your T-shirt drawer. Your favorite red one is dirty. Your blue one is stained. And you're tired of all the rest. So you throw on...

Critter glitter. (animals that shine and shimmer in many colors include some birds, snakes, butterflies, and bugs)(Cover Story)
December 1, 1997... Look around your home or neighborhood. Do you see colored lights that twinkle? Glittery golden ornaments? Strands of silvery tinsel? It's the holiday season, when many people decorate things to make them really sparkle. The natural world can...

The best present of all: sometimes the best Christians presents don't come in wrapping paper.(fiction)
December 1, 1997... Sometimes the best Christmas presents don't come in wrapping paper. Before dawn on that Christmas morning, my father tapped on my door. I leaped from bed, rushed into the living room, and saw the tree glowing in the dark. Brightly wrapped...

Naturally good news. (three endangered animals, the Congo bay owl, the pearl mussel, and the slender-billed curlew, have all been sighted recently)(Greenzine)
December 1, 1997... It's always good news when a threatened or endangered species shows up after not being seen for a while. (It may be a sign that the species is making a comeback.) Here are some recent examples: A kind of shellfish called a pearl mussel was...

Tiger! (many people are working to save endangered tigers and these animals will be featured on a TV program called, 'Tiger')(Greenzine)
December 1, 1997... Tigers are one of the most endangered species on the planet. Many have been killed by people who believe that parts of a tiger's body make good medicine. Also, the big cats lose their homes as forests are cut down. Luckily, many people are...

New monkey! (a marmoset that outsiders did not know about was found in the Amazon forest of Brazil)(Greenzine)
December 1, 1997... Last year, a new kind of monkey was discovered by scientists in the Amazon forest in Brazil. It's the sixth new species of marmoset (MAR-muh-set) to be discovered in South America in six years. As scientists go deeper and deeper into areas...

Kids' contests! (three contests that have a Feb 1997 or a March 1997 deadline are described)(Greenzine)
December 1, 1997... Here are three contests you may want to enter: Use Less Stuff! Recycling is great. But to really help the environment, everyone has to learn to buy and use less stuff. (See story starting on page 16.) You and your classmates can show you...

Nature calendar. (tips on birdbaths in winter, star-gazing in winter, and participating in the annual Christmsn Bird Count)
December 1, 1997... Go Gazing Clear winter nights often offer the best stargazing of the year. Try to find a place away from city lights when there isn't much moonlight. From December to March, the constellation Orion (oh-RYE-un) is bright in the southern sky....

Little red hoarders. (red squirrels store pine cones and eat the seeds all winter)(Animal super savers.)
December 1, 1997... Red squirrels (photo at left) are world-famous hoarders. A squirrel may gather hundreds of pine cones in a day. Then it buries the cones under some leaves and twigs in a pile called a midden. Why hoard cones? Because deep inside them are lots...

Every nut in place. (acorn woodpecker make hundreds of holes in wood and store an acorn in each one for winter food)(Animal super savers.)
December 1, 1997... To "squirrel something away," means to hide it for later. But squirrels aren't the only hoarders. A family of acorn woodpeckers makes thousands of holes in trees and fence posts. Then they fill the holes with acorns (below and right). The nuts...

Hoards of hoarders. (animals that store food and later come back to finish it include ants, bears, bats, cats, mountain lions, polar bears, and spiders)(Animal super savers.)
December 1, 1997... Ants, bears, bats, cats, and other animals also hoard food. Mountain lions cover their meat with leaves. Days later, they come back and finish their meals. Polar bears store dead seals under snow. Who needs a refrigerator? Spiders are expert...

Big Balloons. (honey ants store nectar in ants whose bodies can swell up like balloons until they spit up the nectar for other ants to eat)(Animal super savers.)
December 1, 1997... Honey ants collect sweet plant nectar instead of seeds. Then they feed the nectar to "honeypots" (right), which are really other ants in their underground nest. The honeypots drink the nectar until their bodies swell up like balloons. Later they...

Burying in burrows. (the pika and the chipmunk both store food underground)(Animal super savers.)
December 1, 1997... Here's an amazing hoarder (left): a little rabbit relative called a pika (PIE-kuh). It stacks up grasses and other plants right outside its burrow. There the plants dry in the sun, which keeps them from spoiling. Then the pika stores them deep in...

Splash - they're hidden. (beavers store sticks underwater and eat them in the winter)(Animal super savers.)
December 1, 1997... Eating sticks may not be your style. But beavers (such as the one at right) dine on them all year round. They also hoard piles of sticks underwater in their ponds before winter. When the weather turns cold, the surface of the ponds may become...

Stocking up pays off. (animals that hoard food are more likely to be the ones that survive)(Animal super savers.)
December 1, 1997... "Be prepared." That's the motto the Scouts like to follow. Animals that hoard food are prepared too. Extra nuts, berries, and meats sure can come in handy when other food is hard to find! Some animals that save up lots of food are more likely...

Reader riddles. (10 riddles and their answers which were sent in by readers)
December 1, 1997... Ann: Why doesn't Santa have any girl reindeer? Dan: He does--you sing about Olive all the time. Ann: Olive? Who's Olive? Dan: "Olive, the other reindeer, used to laugh and call him names . . ." Brucie Somers; Freiburg, Germany...

Prickly pop-eyes. (arrow crabs have unusual bodies with spiky cone-shaped heads, and legs like spiders which they use to catch bits of dead plants and animals that float by)
December 1, 1997... These spiky coneheads with spidery legs look like aliens with an attitude. What are they really? The "aliens" are arrow crabs, which are a kind of spider crab. (They sort of look like spiders, don't they?) The crabs hide out during the day....

Squirrel away your allowance. (instructions for making an oatmeal container bank with a brown-paper squirrel sitting on top)
December 1, 1997... Hoard your spare change in this easy-to-make bank. What You Need * colored paper, brown bag or wrapping paper * thin cardboard (from cereal box) * scissors * crayons, markers, or paint * 42 oz. oatmeal container with lid and 12 oz....

The best hiding places. (some animals such as fox squirrels, white-footed mice, and blue jays store food in several different stashes and are less likely to lose all to raiders)(Animal super savers.)
December 1, 1997... Bees keep their honey all in one place--their hive. But that means they can lose it all at once. Bears and other raiders may steal from a hive. In minutes, all the bees' honey could be gone! That doesn't happen to animals that keep food in more...