Animal Facts

The Caracal

The Caracal is a medium sized african cat. It is famous for its leaps into the air to catch its prey. Mainly Ginny fowls and other low flying birds that live in africa.

An adult Caracal is as fast as a cheetah cub. The Caracal has large ears so it can hear predators and prey. It is extremely hard to find because it is a tan color and the tall grass it lives in is tan also. Caracal cubs have many Predators on the savannah so the usually hide in an aardvark hole or somewhere else safe. The Caracal is cat which hisses most in the world.  It can even hiss away a Croc !!

Yeti Crab
The yeti Crab is a crab that lives at the bottom of the sea close to underwater trenches and volcanos . the tube worm and clams also live there . the Yeti crab looks like a large tick with larger hairy arms. It eats bacteria that gets its food from the heat of the volcano, carbon dioxide and Oxygen. Its mixes them all together to make sugar or glucose for their food. Unlike the phytoplankton that live at the sunlight zone . They get their food from the sun like plants through a process called photosynthesis. the Yeti crab uses his hairy arms to catch bacteria floating through the vents. He then eats the bacteria. Tube worms also eat the bacteria     

Pollinators 
Pollinators are insects and animals that pollinate flowers. Most Pollinators go to the flowers for the sweet delicious nectar . But some like the fig wasp go from flower to flower for another reason . The fig wasp lays its eggs in a fig gourd and when the babies hatch they are covered with pollen . When they go to another gourd to lay their own eggs the Pollen is delivered. One of the most famous Pollinators is the honey bee . It goes from flower to flower gathering nectar and pollen . we have some in our backyard.  there are other Pollinators to like the Butterfly ,the fly and wasp . there are also animal Pollinators like the hummingbird , some other birds, monkeys, lemurs, bats and lizards . the kinkajou Pollinates flowers also . Flowers use all sorts of way to lure Pollinators to them . First of all the promise of sweet nectar .  Flowers also look like other insects too make bees to attack it and gather Pollen . Some flowers smell like rotting meat so flies can land on them and gather Pollen . Hummingbirds like long tube like red flowers.  Without pollinators we wouldn't be alive. for fruit and veggies wouldn't grow if they were not Pollinated

The Wolf 
The top predators of the woods.Wolves can run up to 100 miles a day without stopping , they are the marathoners of the woods. ravens follow them and eat some of the food they catch . Wolves can only catch a Moose as a pack . For a moose can use their antlers as a protection against one wolf. but as a pack they can surround the moose. the Cougar or Mountain lion is the only predator that can take on 2 or 3 wolves but as a pack they can surround the cougar .   

The Great White Shark
The Great White Shark is the least known about Ocean predator.
Recently Scientists have learned that Great whites Travel Long distances up to 100,000 Miles! you might think Great whites don’t have any predators in the Ocean but Packs of Orca’s can Take down a full grown Shark . The only other predator they have are us . we kill more sharks every year then shark have killed us all together ! so shark should be scared of us ( They are Believe me!) Remoras (a kind of fish that can stick to a lot of things) stick onto the Great white with their mouths . They get a free ride and free snacks . the way the get free snacks is : when A great with tears a fish,seal or sea turtle with its jaws some scraps float away and the Remora eats them . The Great white rarely eats a Remora , Because the Remora is too small . Another fish a Great white Rarely eats is the Cleaner fish. Great whites ,Other sharks, Manta Rays and other fish go to cleaning stations . In these cleaning stations small cleaning fish swim into sharks and other fishes mouths and eat the parasites on them . It saves the shark and fish teeth and gives the cleaning fish food .Great whites have a special ability to roll their eyes into the back of their head when they attack so their eyes don't get hurt. Great white eggs Hatch inside the mother body  


The African Crested Porcupine
The African Crested Porcupine is a species of Porcupine that lives in Africa and hides underground . No Porcupine shoots its quills . Its Quills are loosely attached and when a predator jumps on it it gets covered in quills. The African Crested doesn't have barbs on its Quills like the North american. A quill in the right spot like the chest or the face could kill a lion.
African Crested Porcupines are great diggers . They burrow holes to have their young in and to escape storms . Their quills are really hard hairs . They have a muscle attached to them . So when they get nervous their quills are raised . 


That's what i have been learning about animals .

The Downfall of Rome .

The Downfall of Rome .

The Roman empire was a wonderful, prosperous place . But then it was destroyed . How was the Roman empire destroyed? It had the best military of its time and it had strong walls around its cities . I will tell you how .

It began with the Barbarians (cool fact : Barbarians were named after the sound they made . the Greeks and Romans only herd "bar bar bar") . Barbarians surrounded the Roman empire and they all wanted it. it was very hard for the Romans to defend their empire. The Barbarians also destroyed aqueducts which stopped the Romans supply of water . This made the Roman soldiers weaker and weaker. Barbarians swarmed the countryside defeating the weak roman Soldiers . The Emperor found it difficult to defend his enormous empire against the invading tribes. Then one smart roman emperor came along , his name was Diocletian . Diocletian found that his empire was too big so he divided it in two , on half ruled by him (the western half ) and the other half ruled by Maximian.(the eastern half) Now it seemed this would work . The Romans had divided their army and now they fought of Barbarians more effectively. But their water was still running out and the Emperor did not know how to fix the problem. The western Roman empire became weaker and poorer . While the eastern half ( also called the Byzantine empire ) became richer and more powerful , Constantinople the capital became the best city in both half's. Why did the east prosper while the west declined ? well first of all almost all of the Barbarians fighting the Romans fought the western half . So the people of the western Roman empire found very little food and water ,thus making its armies weaker and then the cycle starts over. Two of the most famous tribes that fought the Romans were : the Huns and the Visigoths . You most likey have heard of the Huns . Don’t get them mixed up with the Mongols though they are to seprate people . The Huns shared some characteristics with the Mongols though like : Archers on horseback , nomads , eating raw meat , teaching babies to ride horseback before teaching them how to walk  and they both came from Asia. The Huns had a deadly Leader named : Attila the Hun . Attila and his warriors came from Asia creating destruction and havoc wherever they went. The Roman Emperor's sister was bored of being a great lady she wanted to be free. So she sent a letter to Attila asking him to rescue her from rome and marry her. When Attila got the message he set his eyes on Rome .This is my chance to take the Roman empire and its gold he thought. So he sent a message back saying i will come and get you and all your kingdom now ! And With that he set off Conquering rome little by little. When he got to Rome the Emperor gave him a large amount of gold in exchange for sparing Rome. Atilla said he would come back but he died of nosebleed after he left! The second famous Barbarian tribe were the Visigoths . The Visigoths were a Barbarian tribe that came from Germany . The Visigoths Attacked the Roman Empire and took some of it . Some of the Visigoths settled down in  the Territories they took and adopted the Roman way of life . One of these Visigoths married a Roman . There sons name was Stilicho . Stilicho was half Barbarian but he believed himself as a loyal Roman citizen. He joined the Roman army and rose in the Ranks. The Emperor Saw Stilicho and appointed him General. Stilicho fought and fought against the Visigoths but his army was too weak and afraid . The Visigoths pushed his army back and he lost most of his battles. Stilicho himself was a Great general but his army was not so great . THe Romans said Stilicho was a traitor for he was half Barbarian. The wanted to behead him. Stilicho said it wasn't his fault but the armies. In the end the Romans beheaded him. Wrong move! Wrong move!! Wrong move !!! this was a wrong move . Stilicho was the only General who could have stopped Rome from being taken. After Stilicho died the Visigoth moved in destroying and sacking everything in their path . When they came to Rome the Emperor and most of the Army had evacuated . The Visigoths easily killed the weakened army that was left. they sacked Rome and took it over.

it goes to show that even the biggest empires can be destroyed.