Tuesday, January 26, 2010

hunt for antlers

I’m heading out to look for antler sheds this week. Bucks have probably started losing their antlers, and I want to find them before the mice and squirrels do! To find a shed, visit a place where you know deer live. Look for where they bed down (e.g., under evergreens and in dense thickets). If there is a lot of snow on the ground, just follow the deer trails. That will help to narrow your search area! And, since deer have a tough time finding drinking water in winter, visit springs and other areas with open water. Don't forget to take your favorite grown-up with you. Happy hunting!

Photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/crowtongue/ / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0

Sunday, January 24, 2010

find fibonacci

Find a cone from a conifer tree and look at it from the bottom. Count the number of spirals going from the center of the cone (where it attached to the tree) to the outside edge. Count the spirals in both directions. The resulting numbers are usually two consecutive Fibonacci (FEE-buh-NAW-chee) numbers (e.g., 0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21, 34, . . .). In the example shown, there are 8 clockwise spirals and 13 counter-clockwise spirals. Can you find a cone that doesn’t follow this pattern?