Postcards 3 & 4 in our series arrived today
Number 3 is from Southern Louisiana. 
This card was homemade, created from photos the family took themselves. That makes it twice as nice and very impressive! The card explained that in Morgan City, Louisiana, where these pictures were taken, American Alligators grow to be over 800 pounds and up to 14 feet long. They are often hunted for their hides and meat. Alligators hibernate in the winter so they see them from May until September. They said tourists think they are exciting to see where as they are simply wild animals to them. We couldn't imagine an alligator being commonplace!
The second picture on the card is of a Nutria Rat. They said they are not native to their area but were brought over from Argentina to establish a breeding colony from which they would be harvested for their fur. In 1940 a hurricane destroyed the breeding cages, releasing them into the wild. These original 13 Nutria's became 20 million by 1955! They are a nuisance in their area though tourists still enjoy seeing them. They grow to be 2 feet long and around 20lbs. Those are huge rats and make me all the more thankful we don't have rats near our home...not that I have ever seen anyways.
This card was homemade, created from photos the family took themselves. That makes it twice as nice and very impressive! The card explained that in Morgan City, Louisiana, where these pictures were taken, American Alligators grow to be over 800 pounds and up to 14 feet long. They are often hunted for their hides and meat. Alligators hibernate in the winter so they see them from May until September. They said tourists think they are exciting to see where as they are simply wild animals to them. We couldn't imagine an alligator being commonplace!The second picture on the card is of a Nutria Rat. They said they are not native to their area but were brought over from Argentina to establish a breeding colony from which they would be harvested for their fur. In 1940 a hurricane destroyed the breeding cages, releasing them into the wild. These original 13 Nutria's became 20 million by 1955! They are a nuisance in their area though tourists still enjoy seeing them. They grow to be 2 feet long and around 20lbs. Those are huge rats and make me all the more thankful we don't have rats near our home...not that I have ever seen anyways.
Postcard number 4 is from Maryland
This family spoke of the importance of the Chesapeake Bay. It is one of the most important bodies of water in the world. We learned it is an estuary- a semi-enclosed coastal body of water with one or more rivers flowing into it and with a free connection to the open sea. It stretches 180 miles and has 3,600 different species of plants and animals that inhabit it. They have approximately one million waterfowl that spend their winters in the Bay area. We also learned how the Bay drives the local economies. They estimate that over 100 million tons of cargo move in and out of the ports annually. I believe that we could do an entire month long study on the Bay and still have more to learn. This was very interesting to the girls, and myself, so we plan to check out some library books on the area to learn more. Have I mentioned how great of a project this is? I LOVE it!!!
1 comment:
Wonderful postcards-especially the homemade ones-how neat.
That is such a fun project you're doing. :)
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