Week 1 December 13-19

In the class we are doing an inquiry project. Each person in our class chooses a topic and does research about their topic. If someone chooses the sun than that person would do research about the sun. For my inquiry project I chose to do Marine Mammals. I chose to do marine mammals because I think they’re very interesting animals. When I’m older I would like to volunteer at a place that helps orphaned and injured animals.

Week 2 December 20-26

This week I’ve been researching on what top 10 marine mammal and ocean species are endangered. These are the top 10 I found:

1: Hawksbill Turtle

2: Steller Sea Lion

3: Hammerhead Shark

4: Vaquita

5: Blue Whale

6: Florida Manatee

7: Hawaiian Monk Seal

8: Kemp’s Ridley Turtle

9: Humpback Whale

10: Fraser’s Dolphin

Source: http://www.marineinsight.com/environment/10-endangered-ocean-species-and-marine-animals/

That’s all I have this week. If you want to learn more about marine mammals then read my next blog entry to learn more.

Week 3 December 27- January 2

Happy New Year! Since it was Christmas I decided to write about Polar Bears. These are 5 facts about Polar Bears that I found online:

1: One male Polar bear can weigh as much as 12 men.

2: Polar bears can go seven days without eating.

3: Although polar bears appear white, their fur is actually transparent. It only appears white because it reflects visible light. Under their fur, polar bear skin is actually black.

4: Polar bears have a razor sharp sense of smell.

5:  Two-thirds of Polar bears could disappear by 2050 because Polar bears rely on the sea ice to hunt. With global warming, they could start disappearing very soon.

Source: http://www.livescience.com/43673-weird-facts-about-polar-bears.html

Week 4 January 3-9

Just recently I came back from a family vacation and we went to this aquarium called Sea Life Park. We got to see dolphins, turtles, otters and more. I got to touch a baby turtle’s shell and the turtles flipper touched my hand. We saw Sea lions, the Sea lion just sat in the sun. I touched a starfish. The starfish’s skin felt bumpy and rough.

Week 5 January 10-16

I started my poster this week for the inquiry project. I found some pictures that I want to print. I think I have an idea about how I’m going to layout the information on my poster.     I’m still wondering on how many pictures I should have on my poster.

Week 6 January 17-23

This week I was researching marine mammal species that have gone extinct in the last 10 years. One of the animals is the Baiji Dolphin from China. They used to live in the Yangtze River. The last time these Dolphins were spotted there was in 2002. One of the reasons they could be extinct is because there is so much pollution in China. Other reasons this animal is extinct is because of over-fishing, boat traffic, habitat loss, pollution and poaching. This animal was hunted for their skin to make gloves and handbags.

Source: http://www.mnn.com/earth-matters/animals/photos/10-animals-presumed-extinct-in-the-last-decade/baiji-dolphin#top-desktop

Week 7 January 24-30

Did you know that there is a pink dolphin named Pinky? She is a bottle-nose dolphin who lives in the Calcasieu River in Louisiana.  The reason why she is pink is because her skin is transparent!  She is missing pigment, so you can see her blood through her skin making it seem like she has bubble-gum colored skin. Only 12 pink dolphins have been spotted since 1962.  Scientists say that Pinky is an albino dolphin.  She is albino because her parents both carried the same mutated gene that gave Pinky the albinism.

Source:  http://news.nationalgeographic.com/2015/09/150909-pinky-albino-bottlenose-dolphin-animals-science/

Week 8 January 31-February 5

Since I want to work with animals when I am older, I was looking for volunteer opportunities.  On the Vancouver Aquarium website, I found out about the Family Volunteer Program.  You must be 10-13 years of age and volunteer with a parent.  If you want to volunteer, you have to be able to speak English clearly and eligible to volunteer in Canada.  Too bad they are closed for recruitment right now, but you can email them at volunteer@vanaqua.org to have them send you future family recruitment opportunities.

Source:  http://www.vanaqua.org/join/hands-on/family

Week 9 February 6-12

Have you heard of the show Hope for Wildlife?  I wonder if my mom will let me fly all the way to Nova Scotia when I’m 18 to volunteer for Hope.  Hope seems like a wonderful lady who rescues all sorts of animals.  I watched a show where she saved baby seals.  The seals would have died without Hope and her team.  A few years ago, Hope wasn’t able to keep the baby seals alive until she got help from the Vancouver Aquarium staff.  One of the staff’s name was Lindsey and she was an expert caretaker of seals.  She is also the manager of the Marine Mammal Rescue program.

This is the Hope for Wildlife website: http://www.hopeforwildlife.net/index.html

Week 10 February 13-19

Happy Valentine’s Day!!!  I finished doing some writing for the Inquiry project.  I printed the pictures that I wanted for my Inquiry poster. I did work on my information sheet, and I would like to go to the Vancouver Aquarium to take some pictures and videos for my Inquiry and I’m thinking of doing a slideshow.

Week 11 February 20-26

This week we are working on elevator pitches and this is what I’ve been working on:

Hi, my inquiry is about marine mammals. Did you know that in the last three years the marine mammal population has gone down 60%? Could you imagine a world without marine mammals? The next generation will never know about these animals and this could also affect our food chain. The reason these animals are disappearing is mostly caused by us.

Week 12 February 27-March 4

I went to the Vancouver Aquarium for a visit.  Also, to see the marine mammals so that I could take pictures and videos of them for my presentation.  We went to the 4D theater to learn about polar bears and their habitat.  We got sprayed with water and bubbles came falling down at us.

And guess what.  Our Inquiry Fair is coming up next week on March 9 from 12:45 to 1:30pm.  I’m a little bit nervous but I am excited for people to see my project and presentation.  If you would like, you can come check it out!