The anatomy of a dog

Today I am going to draw the anatomy of a dog and learn about what each part of its body does.

Here is my image:

Larynx

A dogs Larynx is its voice box which allows it to speak. When a dog becomes quite old there is a chance it mite get Laryngeal Paralysis a disease that some older dogs get when their larynx does not open and close when the dog breathes like it should normally do this makes the dog stressed when its hot because it breaths more rapidly but it can't.

Esophagus

The esophagus is a tube that connects the stomach to the mouth. The esophagus is located right in the chest and throat. The walls of the esophagus are made of muscles that move in wave like movements to push food into the stomach. When the dog has finished eating and there is no food in the esophagus the walls of the esophagus will collapse on each other to close it.

Stomach

The stomach is basically a little sack inside the dog that gets passed food by the esophagus. Inside the dogs stomach is many folds these folds are called gastric folds. The gastric folds help the stomach grind and digest food. once the food is eaten most of it leaves within 12 hours.

Small intestine

The small intestine is a tube like tunnel that connects the stomach to the large intestine. Despite its name the small intestine is actually bigger than than the large intestine. The small intestine is about two and a half times the size of your dog, For example if you have a dog that is about 24 centimetres its small intestine will be about 60 cm.

Large intestine

The large intestine basically just connects the small intestine to the anus. In a 40 pound dog the large intestine would be about 15 cm long. even though the large intestine is smaller than the small intestine it is actually thicker in diameter.

Trachea

The trachea (windpipe) is a big hollow tube that helps to let the air flow to and from the lungs. The trachea is located in the throat it joins the lungs and larynx together.


Kidney

The kidneys in a dog do exactly the same work as a humans kidneys by filtering the blood and collecting the body waste which will then be passed down to the bladder which when full will send note to the brain telling the dog that it needs a wee.

Spleen

The spleen helps by fighting of infections and removing aged and non working red blood cells from circulation.

Rectum

The rectum is a place to store the feces (poo) before it leaves the body.

Liver

The liver is an important organ for your dog it helps with digestion and blood clotting, it also removes toxins from the system.

Lungs

when a dog breathes in its lungs will collect all the air but will only breath out the part it doesn't need. The part the dog doesn't need is called carbon dioxide, the dog will breathe out the carbon dioxide and keep the part it needs, oxygen.

Heart

The heart has to sides one that collects blood from circulation and pumps it to the lungs while the other side does the opposite by collecting blood from the lungs and pumping it around the dogs body.

Spinal column

A dog's spinal column is their backbone. A dog's spinal column is a large group of bones that protects the spinal cord which houses all of the important nerves in a dogs back.

Lyerbird facts

Today I am going to write about superb Lyrebirds that can mimic other noises like human voices, mechanical noises and pretty much anything.



Habitat?

 Both species of the lyrebird are native to the south east of Australia and are usually found in moist forests.

Diet?

Lyrebirds mainly eat insects, spiders, little frogs and other little invertebrates it finds on the leaves.

How big are they?

You would probably think that these are small animals wouldn't you? Well no! These birds can grow to be a whole metre!

How long can they live?

These amazing animals can live for up to 30 years!

Interesting facts


1. Like peacocks only the males have the beautifully feathered tails.
2. The superb Lyrebirds have been rated the most amazing mimic birds in the world being able to copy nearly anything!
3. They once became very rare but are know very common in the forests of Australia!

mimic octopus

Today I am going to learn about the amazing shapeshifting animal the mimic octopus!


This is an animal you have probably never heard of which is amazing. The mimic octopus (Thaumoctopus Mimicus) is an octopus with real superpowers! It has the ability to shape-shift! ok maybe it cant totally shape-shift but it can kind of morph itself and change colour to mimic other animals. Here are some animals that it can mimic, sea snakes, lionfish, eels, stingrays, Jellyfish and much, much, more!

Here is an amazing video of a mimic octopus.



 In this video it shows how the mimic octopus changes shape and mimics other animals.            

How big are they?

Mimic octopus' are quite small in size only about 2 feet                                                                                                                                                     
When was it discovered?

The mimic octopus was discovered in 1998 by a fisherman.




Habitat?

This particular type of octopus tends to live in Sulawesi, Indonesia and is mainly found at the bottom of river mouths it tends to like muddy places.

How long does it life?

The estimated lifespan of a mimic octopus is around two years.

Diet?

Because of the scenery that the mimic octopus lives in it is suspected to mainly eat little fish like shrimps and quite often crabs.

What does it look like?

The mimic octopus in its own form is brown and white with stripes and spots.

Are they poisonous?

No one really knows wether or not mimic octopus' are poisonous but nobody really believes they are because they already have a defence against predators so why would they need another?

Interesting fact.

female mimic octopus' die the second there eggs hatch which means the babies have to fend for themselves from the second they hatch.

Rating?

Out of 5 stars:

Skill: 5 stars

Coolness: 4 1/2 stars 

Survival: 4 1/2 stars

     

                    

Tufted Deer facts

This month I am going to write about amazing animals that you've probably never heard of before but today I am going to write about Tufted Deers.

Habitat?

The Tufted deer lives in central China.

Diet?

The Tufted deer is a vegetarian which means it mainly eats leaves, sticks, grass ect.

What does it look like?

The tufted deer has a white belly and undertail and is grey on its back with a big black tuft on its head which gives it its name.......One more thing that you probably didn't think about these animals, the males have vampire fang looking teeth.

Why do the males have their fang like teeth?

The males have their fang like teeth to impress the females during mating season when they fight each other.

How do the males fight?

The males fight by battling each other with their mini antlers hidden under their tufts until one of them loose balance and the other one holds them down with his teeth.

The Theory of Evolution

Today as part of my topic on amazing animals, I'm going to be learning about the theory of evolution.

Evolution is a theory that explains the way living things (for example: animals, humans, insects) have changed over millions of years. For example over millions of years apes have evolved to walk on two legs and gradually become modern day humans.

The person who came up with the theory of evolution is Charles Darwin. As a young man Darwin was studying and training to be a doctor but he gradually lost interest and found surgery upsetting. He neglected his studies instead spent hours learning taxidermy. At university he became involved with natural history societies and debating clubs and began to question and challenge the accepted explanations for how the world was created. This was a radical thing to be interested in at the time.

Darwin's father was annoyed at his disinterest in medicine so he sent him to Christ's College, Cambrdge to study to become a vicar. Again, Darwin lost interest in becoming a vicar, and instead took interest in beetle collecting which was the popular craze of the time. During his time at Cambridge Darwin read many books exploring 'natural theology', the idea that the beauty of nature must have been created by God, as it couldn't be an accident. He became obsessed with the idea of travel and research, and won a place on the HMS Beagle for a planned expedition around the coast of South America.

The voyage on the HMS Beagle was a massive turning point for Darwin. On his voyage Darwin did lots and lots of research and collected many specimens such as animals, insects and sea creatures along the way. Darwin's specimens are probably scattered in museums all around the world now. The trip created many questions in Darwin's mind which he was eager to answer and fed his hunger for questioning what everyone else accepted. 

You might not know there was another person doing very similar work to Darwin at the same time who didn't get as much credit for his work. His name was Alfred Russel Wallace. He came up with his own theory of evolution around the same time as Darwin, and in fact they were very supportive of one another's work, but Wallace had financial problems which made it much harder for him to fund his research trips, and looking back now we can see that most of the credit goes to Darwin.

Many people laughed at Darwin when he released his book, On the Origin of Species, in 1859. Darwins book also annoyed a lot of Christians including the pope because it challenged their belief that the world was created by God.  

There is plenty of evidence to support Darwin's theory of evolution, such as fossils that show how animals have changed over millions of years. However, there are some people who still don't believe that evolution is real, mostly for religious reasons. Although scientists are 100% sure Darwins theory of evolution is true there is a link in history where there are no fossils or skeletons to prove evolution in that particular era. this is where everyone starts arguing.