Ranger Rick articles from January 1995

Ranger Rick archives from January 1995

Will a bird be your buddy?(how to make a bird feeder and attract birds)
January 1, 1995... This chickadee is checking out some great grub. To make a feeder like this one, ask an adult to punch two holes near the rim of a plastic tub. Put string or wire through the holes. Attach the tub to a tree trunk as high as your shoulders, and...

Adventures of Ranger Rick: how Rick's Rangers came to be.(short story)
January 1, 1995... A snowy, sleety, bitey-cold storm was blowing through Deep Green Wood. Ranger Rick Raccoon, Scarlett Fox, Ollie Otter, and Punky Porcupine were curled up in Rick's big tree-hole den. Ollie and Punky were telling jokes and laughing while Rick was...

Where does the water go when you flush it down the toilet?
January 1, 1995... Good question, Josh! In cities and towns, most toilets empty into underground pipes called sewers. These pipes carry the dirty toilet water to a wastewater treatment plant. There a major clean-up act begins. (If you're interested in seeing how it...

Why does my cat rub against my leg even when she doesn't want me to pet her?
January 1, 1995... A cat has little scent glands on its face. These glands make a scent that other cats can smell. The cat rubs the scent onto things to say, "This is mine." So when your cat rubs against your legs, she's not always asking to be petted. She may...

Do any animals' names begin with the letter x?
January 1, 1995... You're in luck. Some animals' names do begin with X. Here are a few. Xenops (ZEH-nops) is the name of some birds that live in Central and South America. And the scientific name of a rat found in Mexico is Xenomys (ZEE-no-mis). Plus, two...

Scarlett, do snowshoe hares turn white in the winter even when there's no snow?
January 1, 1995... Yup. The change in color happens whether it's snowing or not. It has to do with the days getting shorter as winter approaches. As each day gets shorter in fall, less light enters the hare's eye. This causes the hare's brain to make certain...

Wildlife Week.(how to order 1995 Wildlife Week Education Kit on habitat from National Wildlife Federation)
January 1, 1995... For a cactus, it's the desert. For a whale, it's the ocean. For a monkey, it's the treetops in a forest. What is it? Habitat--the place that supplies the food, water, shelter, and other things that each species needs to survive. Want to learn...

Petrels like it ... nice and icy.(Antarctic birds)
January 1, 1995... Snow is falling all around an island near Antarctica. It's terribly cold--and getting colder. But the giant petrel shown below just sits calmly as the snow piles up around him. He doesn't have a mate, so he can't be sitting on an egg....

Meet a petrel scientist.(Brent Houston studies birds in the Antarctic)(Interview)
January 1, 1995... What's it like to study animals in a place that's really cold? We asked Brent Houston, a scientist who studies petrels and other birds in the Antarctic. When did you get interested in studying wild animals? I've been curious about animals as...

A close-up look at coral.
January 1, 1995... There's no place like the rainbow world of a coral reef. The animals that make these reefs are only about the size of a pea. But they've built reefs--and even islands--that are miles long! What is coral? It's stuff made by tiny animals called...

Extra cheese and bugs to go.(insects that people eat in Japan, Mexico, Australia and Africa)(includes recipe for mealworm munchies)
January 1, 1995... What's the matter--don't you like leaf-footed bugs on your pizza? The people who eat them say they taste kind of fruity and sweet. You say you don't eat insects? Gee, people in some parts of Asia, Africa, Australia, and Latin America have been...

Talking smells.(how animals use their sense of smell to communicate)
January 1, 1995... Can you imagine these smells? A pine forest after a rain. Cinnamon rolls in the oven. Your favorite shampoo. A rose bush in bloom. So you think your sense of smell is pretty good? Sorry, but humans have some of the dullest noses in the world....

Fast facts: coyotes.(Cover Story)
January 1, 1995... * Dog Cousin: As you can see on these pages a coyote (ky-YO-tee or KY-yote.) looks a little like a German shepherd. In fact it's a close cousin of a pet dogs. The coyote's scientific name (Canis latrans) means "barking dog." * Making Tracks:...