My Sycamore Canyon

This past Second Saturdays we focused on the grizzly bear!  Grizzly bears are no longer found in California, but educating ourselves about them and their cousins is still both wise and fun.

Grizzlies are found in the northern parts of North America but at one point were as far south as Mexico.  Their scientific name Ursus arctos Horribilis translates into horrible bear bear (this is said to be for their character and personality).  Though their name suggests a scary animal, grizzlies are excellent for the environment.  Grizzlies help with seed distribution, soil improvement, population regulation, and even help feed the birds!

Visitors were invited to make a craft and to learn about grizzly habitat, diet, and just were they all went.   If you missed our fun bear day, don’t worry!  There’s always something fun coming up at the nature center!  Visit our EVENTS page for upcoming programs.

As summer draws to a close we’ve hosted our last summer evening event this past Friday night.  For our final Canyon After Dark event we talked all about canine senses!  Dogs have some amazing senses that help them function in both the wild and our neighborhoods.

Did you know:

• Dogs can’t distinguish between shades of red and green because they have less cones (parts that allow you to detect color) in their eyes than humans do.  However, dogs have more rods (parts that allow you to detect movement) in their eyes than people.  That’s why they can detect motion better than people over larger distances during low light hours.  They also have a wider peripheral than humans.
• Dogs can hear sounds about 4 times farther away than humans can and have a wider range of hearing higher sounds than we do.  They also have 18+ muscles in their ears!  That means they can not only hear independently with each ear, but move them in opposite directions to hear sounds from different directions at once.
• Dogs can wiggle their nostrils independently to allow them to smell different things at once.  Unlike humans, they have separate airways reserved just for smelling!  While humans have about 6 million receptors in their noses to help them smell, dogs have up to 300 million!

Visitors learned about canine sight, hearing, and smell and got to test out their own senses and learn just how they measure up to a dog’s.  If you missed this fun event, don’t fret!  There’s always a fun event coming up at the nature center!  Visit our EVENTS page to see what’s coming up!

This past Second Saturdays event we focused on fire!  Fire has the potential to be a very destructive force, but it is also nature’s tool for renewal and maintenance/disaster prevention!  Visitors joined staff at the Ameal Moore Nature Center and learned that fire:

• Allows naturally flat and clear areas like prairies and chaparral to keep from being overrun with trees
• Provides fire-dependent plants the necessary heat for their seeds to release and germinate
• Limits pathogens and insects
• Burns leaf litter and other dead plant matter, allowing nutrients in them to release back into the environment faster than regular decomposition
• Can provide room for forest animals by thinning trees
• Burns dry materials periodically to prevent larger raging fires later

Visitors learned fire information, took the Smokey Bear pledge, received Smokey certificates, and made take home fire benefit booklets on key rings! 

If you missed out on this fun event, don’t worry! There’s always another event right around the corner!  Our next event will be the last of our summer evening Canyon After Dark series on August 25^th from 8-10pm.  Join us for a night all about canine senses!  Our next Second Saturdays program will be Saturday, September 9^th from 11-2pm on Grizzly bears!  Check out our EVENTS page for more upcoming events.

This past Second Saturdays event we had some out of this world fun while we learned about the moon!  The moon is the Earth’s natural satellite.  Without it life would be very different!  Without the moon, our tides would be MUCH smaller, days would be MUCH shorter, nights would be MUCH darker, and winds would be MUCH faster!  Visitors joined us as we learned all about the moon and did a fun moon phase garland craft!  Did you miss this past event?  Don’t worry!  Another one is right around the corner!  Check out our EVENTS page for upcoming events!