L'IL BUCKAROOS
THE WORD FOR TODAY IS ECO-SYSTEM |
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NEWS FROM NATUREIf you go for a walk in the countryside today, you'll see lots of different animals and plants that share your world. Grass growing under your feet, ants on the ground, butterflies in the air, birds in the sky, raccoons in the trees. And that's just a few examples. Some of these may be creatures you wish would go away, like the snake that just slithered by, or the mosquitos buzzing around your head, looking for a good place to stop and have a drink of your blood. But the butterflies are so pretty, and you wish you could fly like the birds overhead.
It's a wonderful world we humans live in, isn't it?
YOU & YOUR FRIENDLY NEIGHBORHOOD ECO-SYSTEMAn eco-system is the community of every living thing in a particular area. You’re part of that system. So, even though you don’t speak Raccoon (and a raccoon doesn’t speak English), you and your neighbors (raccoons, butterflies, etc.) communicate without spoken or written language, and you’re all dependent on the other members of your eco-system in some way. For example, humans would be very hungry if cows didn’t give us milk (and steak, and hamburgers...), and cows would become ill if humans sprayed their fields with pesticide chemicals.
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IT ALL BEGINS WITH A PRETTY LITTLE BUTTERFLY
So let’s take a closer look at all of that, starting with a beautiful butterfly. While flying from plant to plant looking for the nectar that keeps them alive, they also pollinate plants, such as sunflowers. Pollinate means the planting of pollen. Pollen is a mass of teeny, tiny particles that fertilizes the sunflower so it can reproduce – it will have children and grandchildren to keep the sunflower family alive for generations to come.
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Seeds from the sunflower are food that keeps animals like mice, squirrels, and raccoons alive. Humans like to eat sunflower seeds as well. Most animals gather as much food as they can, even if it’s too much to eat that day. Some bury the excess nuts and seeds to eat the next day, or the day after that. If no one takes the nuts and seeds, trees and plants will grow out of them. But…what happens if the nuts and seeds never get a chance to grow? What if there were no trees, nuts and seeds at all? There are alot of other plants that grow from seeds, like grasses, fruits, vegetables. What if none of them grew?
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BUT THE ENDING ISN'T PRETTY AT ALL
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You’re right. There probably wouldn't be enough food to go around. Many animals would go hungry. Who would survive? Probably humans, you think, because we're big and strong and smarter than the other critters? Naw, humans would never go hungry. So...no more trees, nuts, seeds, fruits, grasses or the delicious critters that eat them? So what? There's lots of other stuff to eat. Cheeseburgers, chicken fingers, candy...No big deal, right?
WRONG! It's a very big deal. A big deal for you and me and every other living thing on this planet. |
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WHAT CAN YOU DO?
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And what about the raccoon sitting over there under the big tree? What’s he going to do when that last tree on earth dies? His life will change, big time. Nowhere to live. And what will he eat?
Every insect, reptile, animal, plant and person are all dependent upon each other in an eco-system. If any one thing is gone, it affects everything else. As humans, we are a big part of the eco-system and we need to be careful to look after our resources. Keep our water clean, don't litter or pollute. If we cut a tree down to use it, we should plant another one in its place. Don't take more berries, fruit or meat than you can use. Don't be wasteful. Be respectful of animals and where they live. Protect their homes and what they eat. Everything in an eco-system must work together. YOU are a very important part of our eco-system. |
Who am I? |
