Who Knew Crows Were This Smart!

As many of you know Dolphins, Chimps and (from my last post) Parrots. Many animals are very intelligent we just may not know it. But very recently the researchers at oxford university and university of Auckland  have found that the New Caledonian Crow is actually very smart. Most of us think that bird are stupid but we are very wrong.

The researchers at Oxford university and university of Auckland have been studying these intelligent bird for 7 years. They have just recently found that these birds are very resourceful in building their nests. One of the test that the researches ran that amazed them entirely is that:

They put a piece of meat in a little tree trunk

Then  put a little short stick that couldn't reach the meat right in front of the bird

next they put a longer stick in a cage that could easily reach the meat.

To their amaze the bird intelligently took the short stick and wobbled over to the cage and used the short stick to get the long stick and later went up to the little tree trunk and dragged the meat out with the big stick!! Amazing what animals can do!!

If that isn't impressive enough list to this. This species of crow isn't the only "smarty" the Tel Avivs hooded crows have found out how to catch fish with bread crumbs. They do it by getting some bread crumbs scatter them into a pond snatch the unsuspecting rising fish. This to me is the most impressive. These fish have learn't to not only get their own fish but also they have lean't to bait. 

Here are some videos to see these wonderful creatures in action!!

By Meera Dolasia on 09/18/2011

Re-Written by Sofia Infante
http://www.dogonews.com/2011/9/19/who-knew-crows-were-this-smart

Current Events: Einstein The Parrot.

Parrots are commonly known to mimic what people say. A lot of people think that parrots can only say "polly wanna cracker" but they can say so much more. Parrots are usually very smart but Einstein is extraordinarily smart, thats how he gets his name Einstein.  The Congo African Grey Parrot definitely lives up to his name. He loves to talk!! He makes the best sound effects, enjoys singing and dancing and having a conversation. 

But like any animal he needs to be rewarded, he loves sunflower seeds but his favorite are peanuts. This amazingly smarty lives in the Knoxville zoo in Tennessee with his trainer Stephanie White. She has worked with many smart parrots but even she says Einstein is unusual the way he actually practices the words he hears over and over until he masters them. She loves to preform in front of people. 

Here is a short video to see this true Einstein in action!!

Scientific Summer

Hi, My name is Sofia, I just came back from my summer. In my blog post I am going to share with you a few things that I did and how they have something to do with science.

As a few people may know I went to france, specifically Honfleur (close to Cannes) and to Normandi.
Some things/activities that I did was

• Canyoning/ Cliff Jumping: ,
• Fly Fishing:
• Jumping on the trampoline:
• Bmx riding:

First starting with Canyoning. Canyoning is taken place on high rocks and on water. To go canyoning we had to wear wet suits because the water was very cold. Now getting to the scientific part. When we jump off the high rocks plummeting to the water we start to yeah high speeds because of gravity. The higher the rock the more time gravity has to pull us down, we start to increase higher speeds the more time we are in the air. When we finally hit the water we will go under but then rise due to our materials in our body. But when we rise to the top and we lay on our backs we have a lot of buoyancy because of our wet suit. 

Now for fly fishing, fly fishing is all about the river ecosystem. River ecosystem - may fly larva is found under the rocks in streams with clean water.  The larva begin to hatch in May and are a preferred source of food for river fish.  Fly Fisher - people tie flies that mimic May flies to catch river fish such as lenox, trout, salmon, salmon, grayling etc.  So how it is related to science is all about biology.

Jumping on the trampoline is slightly related to science. Its mostly about forces and motion, my leg and ant the trampoline are the forces. When I jump I put pressure on my legs and knees which put me higher in the air. Me doing a flip is the motion. I put force on my knee and when I get enough force/air i get motion/flip.

Last but not least Bmx riding. The science in Bmx riding and Canyoning is very similar. When Bmx riding you do go off ramps and if you hit the ramp hard enough you get some air and when you are coming back down you are being pulled down by gravity. On a half pipe you got around the edges and when you are going to need a momentum between you and the bike.

So if you think about your summer, it could be as scientific as mine. See what you can find out!!

MY GOALS FOR 7TH GRADE

Hi, I just started 7th grade. What about you? My name is Sofia Infante and I am 12 and in 7th grade. This year I plan to be a lot more determined to get good grades, well better than last year.  I am going to do this by being willing to give my all into... well everything.

Last year we studied Forces and Motion and about the problems of Earth. Which was fun but this year I would like to add more exciting things to our school year.

This year in science I would like to learn about explosions. I think we are old enough to be able to make explosions such as coca cola rocket, vinerger bomb and so on. I think it relates to science because we have to try and find why it exploded. What triggered it to fizz or start to blow up.

So basically this year I want it to be the most exciting, the 1 where I try to work as hard as possible and the year I become a scientific 7th grader!!!