Our grandson Benjamin (age 8) will practice blogging here!
Click above to read the latest article. April 2021
Click above to read the article.
DOMESTIC DOGS
DOMESTIC DOGS
Dog, man's best friend. A wolf, he is very hungry. An early man's camp. Scraps from dinner. When no one is looking the wolf darts in. food!
But how does a wolf relate to the dog? That’s the question. How did the dog become man’s best friend? We need to look back at the ancestry of the dog. The wolf. The dire wolf to be exact.
The dire wolf is the early relative of the dog. Dire wolves and wolves in general were attracted by the early man’s camps. After millions of breeding the old wolves, they got some of the dog species we know today.
Then they could make other breeds. Like the puggle. The puggle is a mix between a beagle and a pug. They could not make the puggle without the beagle and the pug.
And there are also lot’s of other mixed breeds of dogs that humans don’t even have a name for. If a dog decides to mate with another breed a dog you get a mix of those two different species of dogs.
Let’s go back to the puggle. The puggle has longer legs then the pug like the beagle does. And it has a longer snout. But they have a tail more like the pugs tail. And even though the snout is longer than the normal pug it is still pinched up. It is weird how two parents can give birth to a whole different species than themselves.
But the reason the early man started breeding wolves into other species of dogs is that the dogs kept coming back to their camps for food. The early man found the dogs useful because they barked at a lot of animals that may have frightened the early man. When the Europeans came they found the dogs useful for hunting, guarding, even entertainment.
Greyhounds were very fast, which made them useful for hunting. But now greyhounds are used to entertain. Ever heard of a greyhound race? This is where many greyhounds compete in a race and many people love to watch greyhound races.
So now you know about the amazing story of the dog. And their great great great great grandaddy the wolf, dire wolf. So thank the wolves for man’s best friend.
BROWN DOG NEWS REPORT QUESTION ???
DO WOLVES HOWL AT THE MOON?
carr0ts and wolves howling at the moon. Well the question is do wolves actually howl
at the moon?
howl at the moon. But is it true? Well the truth is not all wolves howl at the moon.
So therefore it is not true for wolves in general. But still the gray wolf howls.
For one it does not howl it does not live in packs and it’s more related to a coyote.
They also are really hard to find because they are living in one state, North Carolina.
The red used to live in more states. But it has disappeared from all those places
including its native home Missouri.
But yes gray wolves still howl and because of this people have been terrified of them. Evenchanaly people started trapping and hunting wolves for sport. And for now that is all they will do.
There is actually one thing that makes red wolves like gray wolves. They are critically endangered. Red wolves get a bad reputation because they have wolf in their name. Even though red wolves don’t hunt cattle, pigs, and sheep. They still may hunt the ecagenall chicken. Even though they do not do this very often they still may do it. People are terrified of red wolves even though many experts will say no red wolves do not live in packs or howl. But people still will often bring up the big bad wolf story.
But the question is do wolves really howl at the moon. Well many photos of wolves howling in the day, gives us somewhat of an answer. But still people will argue because there are photos of wolves howling at night. Cartoonists when they make wolves they normally make them howl and yes put the moon.
There are lots of photos of wolves howling at night, but there are also many nights where there is not a full moon which often is said when people say wolves howl at the moon. So wolves may howl at the moon but they do not only howl at the full moon.
So wolves don’t howl at the full moon. But they may howl at the moon still. Well research shows that wolves do not howl at the moon. They actually howl to communicate and talk to other wolves.
Other packs in an area close to the resident packs territory will howl and the resident will howl back. They are actually talking to each other. With these howls wolves can make packs claim territories and more.
So do wolves howl at the moon. The answer is simple…
NO! Wolves actually howl to claim territories, make packs, and yes talk to each other. So next time you see a movie with a wolf howling at the moon, just sigh, and think about the time we solved the mystery.
BROWN DOG NEWS REPORT
FOXES
Catching food in winter can be challenging. But foxes thrive in winter. Living practically anywhere the red fox has the second widest ranging mammal in the world. The arctic fox, well let’s just say they don’t like vacations. The arctic fox only lives in the great north. Gray foxes live far south and are the only fox that lives only in North America. The fennec fox ranges only in Africa only living in the hot desert. Foxes have a story that needs to be told.
Catching food can be challenging in winter. A red fox. He is as furry as a blanket. Winter will only bring challenges. He is hungry. He could go looking for a carcass of an animal that suffered. No, that will take too long. And he wants fresh meat. The only prey is under his feet. He hears them. He smells them. But he just can’t see them. He makes a leap of faith, as he dives into the snow. POW!!! A meadow vole not much. Like a bite of candy really. But in winter every calorie counts. If he can survive this winter, the good times will give him hope.
The story of the arctic fox is a little different from the one of the red fox, but they are still related in a way.
An arctic fox. Two weeks ago he was all brown. No he is white. It helps him in a way. He is looking for food. A polar bear. He will follow it. He is clever, he knows that bears are great hunters. Food is all that's on his mind right now. After 8 days and still no meal, the arctic fox moves on. But now he is not safe. An arctic wolf pack is on the prowl. They could kill him. But risk can sometimes mean possibility. The wolves give him a new hope. 10 more days of waiting, still nothing. The wolves missed one of their hunts. This is the last one. Three hours later there is a kill. The fox still has to wait for an hour or two. The wolves will eat him if he dares to interrupt suppertime.
Two different stories are put side by side. What if there were two other foxes from two different continents.
The gray fox. It is in big trouble. Fox hunters. He has been running for 2 hours. He needs to get to the trees. Finally safe at last. 2 days and the fox hunters have not given up. He will starve if he can’t get down to the ground. Time to do something very squirrel like. He is going to jump from tree to tree. Tell he can get to the ground. 1 tree, 2 trees, 3 trees, and the fox hunter notices he is gone. They don’t know where he went. He is safe for now.
Life in the desert brings many challenges. But the fennec fox thrives here. Living in Africa he is naturally tuff. Food is what is on his mind. A desert scorpion. Armend with a stinger and claws. Not an easy meal. But for the fennec fox if you can catch a scorpion the desert turns into a dessert. The fennec fox sees the armend scorpion. He goes in. grabs the bug and throws it the sand now the fennec fox has lost the element of surprise. He will have to have a head to head fight. The fennec fox starts the fight. The scorpion is good on defense but the fox is better on offence. It does not take long for the fennec fox to kill the scorpion.
Foxes they live all over. And the clever creatures are in your yard. If they don’t trick you. Ha ha I tricked you! Foxes.
Inspired by Wild Yellowstone
