Pink I Think

Why oh why are flamingos (and roseate spoonbills ) sooooo pink?

This is a really cool website...tells you about flamingos and so much more...

• Flamingos are social birds, and tens of thousands can live together in a single colony. 
• Flamingos are one of the oldest species of birds, with fossil remains dating back 30 to 50 million years
• Flamingos are generally non-migratory birds, but a colony may relocate under the pressures of climate or water level changes
• Flamingos are filter feeders, living off algae and tiny animals such as shrimp, mollusks, and insect larvae that live in the mud at the bottom of shallow pools
• The flamingos’ feathers, legs, and face are colored by their diet, which is rich in alpha and beta carotenoid pigments. Carotenoids in crustaceans such as those in the flamingo diet are frequently linked to protein molecules, and may be blue or green. After being digested, the carotenoid pigments dissolve in fats and are deposited in the growing feathers, becoming orange or pink. The same effect is seen when shrimp change color during cooking.

Check out the website...it explains lots of things related to color...

Tree of Life

I love the Khan Academy so much that I would marry it if it was a person.  It makes me happy when I have a question about something and I go there and there is a video to explain it to me.

So guess what I found one on TAXONOMY and the Tree of Life. (Okay Taxonomy is a big word we are going to have to remember and understand).

Here is the link to the video. It will help us understand all those scientific classifications.

 Every time I hear the words tree of life I think of the phrase rhythm of life. Do you think there is also a rhythm of life as well as a tree of life?  Here is one of my favorite songs (cuz Norn used to listen to a Welsh choir that included this song...my heart gets big when I hear this song). And although this has nothing to do with Yucatan...let me introduce you to Sammy Davis Jr.