Genetics

While reading these two interesting topics, I learned allot from them. As I was reading What is Heredity, I learned that humans have two complete sets of 23 chromosomes. Also, I learned that every child receives half of it's chromosomes from the mother and half from the father. As I was reading What is a Trait, I learned that there are different types of traits. They consist of Physical traits (hair/eye color), Behavioral traits (the way you act), and Predisposition to a medical condition (a disease that can be passed down from parent to child). Lastly, we describe a straight thumb allele with a big H, and a hitchhikers thumb allele with a little h.

Class Response

So far during this school year, we have learned so much about different things. My favorite activities that we did were the owl pellet dissection and when we went outside searching for prey (toothpicks). But between those two, I would have to pick the owl pellet dissection. While doing this experiment i learned allot. One thing I learned was the owls can not chew their own food. They are not able to chew, because they have no teeth, so they just swallow their prey whole. When the pellet comes out, it is full of bones from various prey. I also learned that the owls diet mostly consists of rodents and small birds.
My opinion on this lab is kind of grossed out. I really wasn't into touching owl regurgitation, but I got over that feeling and just got it over with it. I think you should continue doing this lab over the years.

Current Events #2

I did my current events on the American Bison in Yellowstone National Park. This article is about the American Bison and how it's becoming extinct. Some of the reason is because the wolf predation. In Yellowstone, they are the only one's in the lower 48 states that have persisted since the prehistoric times. Unfortunately, people are fearing the extinction of the bison, so they imported 21 to private herders in the 1920's. Presently, the population in Yellowstone is up to 4,000.
While reading this article, I was upset about the almost extinction in the 1920's. Although, I was relieved to read that the bison population has been increased. I enjoyed reading this article because I thought it was jam packed with good information. I also found it interesting how the animals population isn't very consistent. To view my current events, click http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Yellowstone_National_Park_related_articles#Geology