Trees Seem to be Key

The tree house the kids are standing below (1)

The kids are standing below the tree house wondering, 'This tree house looks cool and all, but what makes it any more special than our regular houses?'

The Lorax is waiting on the front porch of the tree house, inviting the kids to come in. He is eager to show them around his tree home and to explain just how special it really is. 

The Lorax (2)

”Come on in guys, hurry, before there isn’t a tree left to explore!”

Raccoons using a tree
as their home. (3)

The first branch the Lorax takes the kids to is called Animal Support, known as AS. AS supports the ladder that leads you up to the tree house. Just like the branch supports the ladder, trees support animal life by housing them, as seen in the image to the left.

“Next stop, Oxygen Alley. 

We call it OA for short.” 

OA is the branch that holds up the porch, which allows us to communicate with those below. Just like OA is a connector between the porch and the outside world, trees supply us with oxygen, which helps us talk as much as we want with our friends. 

A piece of wood furniture
that was made from a tree (4)

Right after OA, the kids were led to Hardwood Holder-uppers. 

• HH is a branch in the tree house that has a very important job. 
• It supports the floor that you can use to sit on. 
• Just like the branch holds up the floor that can act as furniture, trees give us lumber that is used to make chairs, couches, tables, and beds.

At this point in the tour, the kids were 

all excited and ready to learn more.

Who knew trees did so many things for us?! 

Unfortunately, the adventure was quickly coming to an end, so the Lorax took a time-out to explain to the kids:

Apples growing on a tree (5)

The next pause happened in front of the Healthy Branch. 
The HB is the branch that holds up the walls of the tree house. Just like the HB keeps the walls of the treehouse standing strong, trees give us important foods such as apples, nuts, and syrup, which all help us stay healthy and strong.

The next and final stop of the kids’ tree-house adventure was at Hide-and-Seek Branch.

Animals using the tree to hide (6)

“The HAS,” the Lorax explained with wonder in his voice, “is perhaps the strongest branch of them all because it holds up the roof.” Just like the HAS helps the roof stay up, keeping us safe from storms, trees make great protection for animals and hunters when the weather gets rough.

Now that the tour was over, the children were sad that they had to leave. They said their goodbyes to the Lorax and promised to come back again soon. He reminded them as they climbed down the ladder, "Always remember how important trees are, and how fun tree houses can be!"

(1) Clipart. Cartoon tree house. [Online image]. Retrieved from http://www.clipartbest.com/clipart-yco495j9i

(6) Cole, M. Illustration of animals under the tree on white. [Online image]. Retrieved

                 from http://www.shutterstock.com/s/%22squirrel+tree%22/search.html?page=1&inline=105833450

(5) Inwallspeakers. Green apple tree clipart. [Online image]. Retrieved from http://inwallspeakers1.com/green-apple-tree-clipart/

(4) Seamartini. Cartoon wooden chest of drawers vector. [Online image]. Retrieved      
                 from http://www.vectorstock.com/royalty-free-vector/cartoon-wooden-chest-of-drawers-vector-2048319

(2) Tinsel-tv. Lorax character mr (4). [Online image]. Retrieved from http://tinsel.tv/the-lorax-stills/#jp-carousel-9121

(3) Wdwf. Raccoon family in tree den. [Online image]. Retrieved from http://wdfw.wa.gov/living/snags/

 

Field Trip to Jurassic Park!

                Field Trip to Jurassic Park!

Imagine all your classmates piling into a bus and taking a field trip to see wooly mammoths or saber-toothed tigers just like the ones in the movie Ice Age! It seems crazy right? But, someday this kind of field trip might


Characters from Ice Age (2).

be possible through the process of CLONING.


Cloning is a process scientists do to create a genetic copy of an animal. An easier way to think about cloning is to think about twins (1). Do you have any friends that are identical twins? Their DNA is exactly the same so they are like clones. 

Scientists are working to collect DNA from animals that have gone extinct to make clones of them and BRING THEM BACK FROM THE DEAD!

Pretend you are walking through the zoo: to your right you see a wooly mammoth exhibit, to your left you see a cage containing two Tasmanian tigers, playfully fighting, and straight ahead you see a pasture of different animals such as the Pyrenean ibex (large mountain goat) or the Auroch (large, amored cow) (3). You've probably never heard of some of these animals because they went extinct! But wouldn't it be awesome to see these amazing animals?

Someday this zoo may actually exist as scientists continue to research cloning. Animals like sheep have already been successfully cloned (4). It is just a matter of time before a wooly mammoth becomes just as common as an elephant in a zoo!

                      How Cloning Works
As you continue walking through the zoo, you enter a building that tells you about how cloning these extinct animals became possible. This is the interesting information you learn:
Cloning is something scientist have been working on for years. There are two main types of cloning: artificial embryo twinning and somatic cell nuclear transfer.They take embryos from an animal and make copies of them in a laboratory. After that they place the copies into a surrogate mother who carries the clone and gives birth to it (1). So when a scientist finds DNA from a wooly mammoth, they can take it, make copies, and then place it into an animal that is close to a wooly mammoth, like an elephant. The elephant carries the wooly mammoth clone and eventually gives birth to it. And wa-la! A baby wooly mammoth clone is born!

Peaches from Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs (5).

 

 Sadly, dinosaurs cannot be cloned with today's technology (3). Although the idea of a dinosaur zoo, like Jurassic Park, seems exciting, it is mostly science fiction, or imaginary. However, technology is always changing, so maybe someday dinosaur DNA will be able to be cloned.

So remember what you learned on your imaginary field trip to the extinct animal zoo, and wait patiently as scientists try to make it REAL! 

1. What is cloning? 2014. Learn Genetics. Genetic Science Learning Center. Retrieved from: http://learn.genetics.utah.edu/content/cloning/whatiscloning/.
2. "Ice Age" cast. [photograph]. (n.d.). Retrieved November 28, 2014, from http://www.kdramastars.com/articles/34661/20140826/ice-age-5.htm.
3. Quiros, G. (2014, April 22). Should scientists bring extinct species back from oblivion? PBS Newshour. Retrieved from: http://www.pbs.org/newshour/updates/reawakening-extinct-species/.
4. Panno, J. (2005). Animal cloning: The science of nuclear transfer. Retrieved from: http://pilot.passhe.edu:8010/cgi-bin/Pwebrecon.cgi?v1=3&ti=1,3&=&=&=&=&PID=wDOn3zPIZ6LbJ9LrUN-um9RnBFfp5&SEQ=20141023101908&SID=1.
5. Peaches portal.png. [photograph]. (n.d.) Retrieved November 28, 2014, from: http://iceage.wikia.com/wiki/File:Peaches_portal.png.