Reptile Trivia

I'm posting this really late, the move took it's toll.  I'm back at work in the science center today so I thought I would catch up with this post.  I plan on having a newly researched post next week and hopefully my top links for the month.

Today (August 8th, 2012) during Reptile summer camp, we played a trivia game.  I typed up the questions, so I shall share them.  Some of them are very specific to the camp, but some of them are general knowledge.

1. Which reptile still has their teeth showing when they close their mouths?
   1. Crocodiles
2. What continent was the viper from yesterday?
   1. Asia
3. What is the theme of this class?
   1. Reptiles
4. T/F: SC has crocodiles in our swamps.
   1. False
5. T/F: All turtles can pull their necks into their shells?
   1. False
6. T/F: All turtles have webbed feet?
   1. True
7. What was the first snake pulled out today?
   1. Great plain rat or Corn.
8. What country was Daisy, David's snake, native to?
   1. Kenya
9. What are two main differences between a turtle and a tortoise shell?
   1. Weight and Shape.
10. What is the difference between the Corn snake and the Great Plains Snake?
    1. Coloring.
11. T/F: The Science Center has Venomous snakes.
    1. False.
12. What is a box turtle?
    1. Tortoise.
13. What is a terrapin?
    1. Mix between turtle and tortoise: Lives in water and on land.
14. What reptile is a good mother?
    1. Alligator.
15. Where is the pattern the same for both the Corn and the Great Plains snake?
    1. Belly/bottom
16. Who won the race on Monday?
    1. Box Turtle.
17. What type of turtle was the last shown yesterday?
    1. Sunburst turtle.
18. T/F: Snakes are warm blooded?
    1. False.
19. T/F: The black snake has the same pattern on his belly as the Corn snake?
    1. True.
20. Who was the first kid of the summer to hold three snakes at once?
    1. Jason.
21. How far south can we find corn snakes?
    1. 30 miles south of Spartanburg SC.
22. What is the current count of sea turtle nests in SC?
    1. 4,367
23. Which island had eleven hundred and one sea turtle nests?
    1. Cape Island
24. When do sea turtles nest?
    1. Night.
25. When is the end of the sea turtle nesting season?
    1. Tonight, tomorrow, last night, pretty much now.
26. When does nesting season begin?
    1. Mid of May.
27. Where do the eggs live in the nest?
    1. The egg chamber.
28. How many eggs can a sea turtle lay at once?
    1. 150 eggs
29. T/F: Leather back sea turtles are very common.
    1. False.
30. T/F: Leather back sea turtles can weight about 1000 lbs.
    1. True.
31. Can turtles/tortoises live without their shells?
    1. No!
32. What is it called when fishermen use nets that are miles long?
    1. Long Line fishing.
33. When fishermen catch something that they don't want while fishing for something else, what is it called?
    1. Bi-catch.
34. South Carolina's state reptile is?
    1. Loggerhead Sea Turtle
35. T/F: Cape Island is open to the public during nesting season.
    1. False.
36. What date did the sea turtles begin nesting this year?
    1. April 30^th.
37. When will the nests be finished hatching?
    1. By the end of September/1^st of October.
38. What was the first predator to go after the baby alligator on the video yesterday?
    1. Skunk.
39. T/F: There are snakes called Queen snakes.
    1. True.
40. What do Queen snakes eat?
    1. Soft crayfish, they freshly shed their exoskeleton.
41. What's David's favorite snake?
    1. Red tailed Boa.
42. Do snakes get hungry after they shed?
    1. Yes.
43. Can snakes bite you, even if they are not venomous?
    1. Yes, they have teeth. But that doesn't mean they will.
44. What type of snake did David bring today?
    1. Red tail boa.
45. How many snakes does David own?
    1. 30
46. How many snakes has David brought in?
    1. 4.
47. Which is longer, a crocodile or a caiman lizard?
    1. Crocodile.
48. In snakes, which are larger, male or female?
    1. Female.
49. In turtles, which is larger, male or female?
    1. Female.
50. What is my favorite turtle?
    1. Sunburst turtle.

Update: Moving

Hello all.  My fiance recently got a job a few hours away, and I'll be living with him part time.

What that means: I will maintain my job at the science center three days a week and spend the other four with him.

The Blog:  I can't promise posts until we get settled.
I did promise a post about the Higgs; current research links; and I would like to add a section for questions that I'm asked.  So those will be coming, my life is just a little crazy.  Also I got a comment on improving my fire post and I need to look into that.

Happy Learning!

Alison

Quick Update

Hello everyone, I'm just letting you know that I'm alive and working on the fire blog.  I have been exhausted and working a lot lately.

Today I had the glamorous job of cleaning out a fish tank, the same tank I cleaned last week.  It turned green again in a week.  No one expected it to, but we worked very hard on getting the tank completely cleaned.  At one point we took a brief break.  When we (we = me + boss) went back into the animal room the largest fish had jumped out of the bucket we put them in.  He was flopping around on the floor still, so it must have just happened.  I noticed him and put him back before he died.  We then put a cover over the bucket.

Oddly even after days like that I still love what I'm doing.

Tomorrow I will learn how to use the starlab a portable planetarium.  I will be going to a library with my boss and giving a few shows.  I'm starting to get nervous, but also very excited.  I haven't done a show in a little while.

This Saturday I actually have the day off!  This is the only Saturday this month I am free!  Otherwise I will work up to 6 days a week.

I plan on posting a collections of links from recent science articles I like, and hopefully doing this periodically.  I would love to do it once a week, but I'm not sure I can right now.  So I'm going to aim for twice a month posting 10-20 articles I enjoyed over the past two weeks.

Science Camp: Week Two: Space Camp

This week is space week.  Last week was weather.  So far so good, I'm excited about the topics we did today.

I told the kids about the life of a star and fusion as well as explaining how telescopes work.  Tomorrow I am going to point the telescope out the window for them.  Sadly I cannot show them the stars because I only have them in the morning.

I've really been enjoying myself.  I'm even enjoying the stress of it all.

I'm going to have to come to some sense of balance to manage by blog and my responsibilities.  I will keep my promise about my next major post, but until then I will update about camp and interesting things that are happening.

Keep learning!

Camp: The First Two Days

I have been busier than I thought I would be the last few days.  On the upside I've been having a blast!

After my first afternoon doing this science summer camp I told my mom "I can't wait until I'm doing this for the rest of my life."  Even when I get frustrated I'm happy.  This past spring I kept thinking the words "I've arrived" when I was out at the observatory during a public night.  I keep thinking those words again.  What I mean by this is; I've become comfortable enough that I can answer most questions without prep and I am also comfortable with what I don't know.  I can enjoy the process of finding out myself or learning that I have more to learn.

Shanda and I are goofing around here.  We found these masks among other  supplies.

For example, we were talking about evaporation.  Shanda, a teacher I'm working with, posed the question "What happens if you add food coloring to water and let the water evaporate?  Does the food coloring stay in the cup or does it evaporate too?"  We were not sure of the answer and we had a discussion with the kids.  During the next break when the kids had some play time we realized that we had all the components to concoct an experiment.  In the discussion I pointed out that if you boiled sea water, you would be left with salt.

Our experiment was set up like this:  we put water, salt and blue food coloring into a ceramic mug.

Regular table salt and blue water.  Plus you can see that I took off my mask.

I then heated the mug on a hot plate to expedite the evaporation process.

Boiling blue salt water!  Next is a video if you are interested.

 We determined that we could make blue salt!  The kids thought this was very cool. 

 We had a lot of fun with this.  (Well I did at least!)  Soon we will be doing some crafts with the kids.  Hopefully I will get some good pictures of that.


I will answer the second question that I proposed soon.  I just wanted to share this first.  Again, my schedule has gotten away from me but I'm enjoying every minute of it.

I can't wait for tomorrow at camp.  Night everyone!

Question Two

And for my next trick, I mean post, I will be writing about fire.

Like moths drawn to the flame, you will be drawn to my next post!

I'm in a goofy mood, but I am going to blog about fire next time.  What it is, why it displays the properties it does.  And the title with be: Fire: Why blue is hotter than red; and what it is.

In other news, I will be volunteering at a local science center for one of their summer camps.  I'm excited about this.  I will be doing the demonstrations.  The summer camp is meteorology based so the experiments are simulating weather conditions and demonstrating related properties.  For example: I get to crush a can.  Some of you know what that is.  I'm very excited about this.  I will be can crushing in front of second graders.

For those of you who don't know what that is:  Video.  He does a pretty good job of explaining what's happening, but you if anyone wants me to explain it please comment or e-mail me.


I probably won't be posting tomorrow there's a parade and a birthday party that I will be going to.  But I should be posting on Sunday.