Saturday, November 20, 2010

If I was an American Gladiator my name would be "TUNDRA"!

My favorite biome is the tundra. The tundra is characterized by extremely cold temperatures which does not allow flora to develop. The tundra has a lot of ice. Not that many animals can live in the tundra but there are large populations of the species that can actually survive there. The animals that can be found in the tundra are polar bears, snowy owl and artic foxes among others. The human activity is very limited due to the harsh weather conditions, nevertheless there have been a lot of studies, particularly regarding global warming which affects the tundra!. I like this biome because I think it is cool how some species can survive under such harsh conditions. It also reminds me of the Ice Age which I think was the coolest time period!

Is that a giant hamster?? No, it is a Capibara!

One time I was at the Ecuadorian jungle and I got to go to a place where they had exotic animals. One of the animals looked like a giant hamster!! It was for real the weirdest thing I had ever seen because it was swimming in the water as well. It turned out that the animal was called a Capibara. It is the biggest rodent in the world and it belongs to the family of other common rodents such as guinea pigs which are extremely common in Ecuador. I have been fascinated by this animal and that is why I wanted to talk about it! I am attaching a picture so you guys can check it out!!

The ecological niche of the capibara is semi-acuatic. They are found in places that surround lakes and dense vegetation. They are also found in forests and grasslands. The capibara does not take a lot of space when it needs to sleep. It usually sleeps in shallow parts of the the soil

Friday, November 19, 2010

I thought I was mestizo but maybe not? Mitochondrial Eve

When scientists describe the Mitochondrial Eve, the theoretical most fruitful human, it is described with dark skin, black hair and extremely muscular. Eve would have been very fit since she would have had to look for water in far away places. The reason behind her muscles is the need for eating animals that lived in the Savannah where Eve was supposed to live. The scientists believe that Eve was probably not the only woman at that time, however she was the most fruitful since it has been proposed that her genes are in the lives of billions of people that now live on Earth.