I want to be a dog,
I don’t want to be a cat,
A rabbit or a hog.
I want to live at my house,
With parents just like me,
Where I’ll be fed and pampered,
And looked after to the tee.
Category Archives: Poem of the Day
“Song” by Katherine Gallagher
Leave a commentSong
(after Charles Causley)
I am the song that lifts the sky
I am the wind that flames the fire
I am the cloud that calls the flood
I am the stream that draws the sun
I am the tide that drinks the moon
I am the air that sings the leaf
I am the bird that stirs the branch
I am the tale that flies the word
I am the note that spreads the song
©Katherine Gallagher
“Pondering These Knees” by Celia Berrell
1 CommentPondering These Knees
Most animal legs
will have some knees.
Including birds,
including bees,
including dogs
like Pekinese,
including cats
like Siamese.
There’s also apes
like chimpanzees
and watery-mammal
manatees.
And most of them all
have kneecaps, two.
Including us,
the gnu, the shrew
and even frogs
have kneecaps too.
But NONE are found
on a kangaroo.
https://www.realclearscience.com/blog/2019/04/02/four_fascinating_facts_about_kneecaps.html
The patella, or kneecap, is one of the most incredible bones in your body. As a sesamoid bone, it is embedded within a tendon, where the quadriceps and patellar tendons meet. There, the rounded, triangular bone protects the knee joint and acts like a pulley, allowing the tendon to transmit more force with smoother motion.
Frogs may have evolved the first kneecaps. In 2017, researchers from Argentina discovered primitive, soft kneecaps in eight species of frog. “One implication of the discovery is that kneecaps like this began to evolve in the Devonian period 400 million years ago,” Andy Coghlan wrote for NewScientist.
http://kneesafe.com/fun-facts-animal-knees/
Fun facts about animal knees
AUG 10, 201718036 VIEWS
1. All four-legged mammals have 2 knees and 2 elbows. That includes dogs, cats, elephants, horses – all quadruped animals. Their front legs bend exactly like our elbows. When talking about horses for example, the parts that we commonly refer to as knees are actually like wrists as the connecting joints can be more compared to human wrist than knees. That also means that the lower part of horse’s front legs is pretty much the same thing as our middle finger. Moreover, it is often believed that elephants have 4 knees, but this statement is false as elephants have similar bone structure as all other four-legged mammals, hence they have two knees and two elbows.
2. Bees have knees. Surprisingly, even such small creatures like bees have knees. Though they don’t have kneecaps, they have femurs and tibia similarly to human knees.
3. Grasshoppers and crickets have their ears on their knees. These „knee-ears“ are located on front legs and are so tiny that to this day it has been almost impossible to clearly understand the full functionality of these incredibly small yet capable set of ears.
4. The knees of cows and giraffes don’t bend well. Have you ever heard of the saying that a cow can go upstairs but not downstairs? There’s a simple explanation to that. The issue is that cows’ knees don’t bend much and they can’t raise their legs high, also they carry a lot of their weight on the back so going downstairs can be dangerous as they can just fall. So technically, they can walk downstairs, but it might result in getting an injury.
5. Birds’ knees are not seen – we see a joint that is actually comparable to human ankles. It is commonly thought that birds’ knees bend forwards, but the joint we see and get confused by is the section between tarsus and tibia. Bird’s knees actually bend the same way as ours but we just can’t see their knees as they are higher up, hidden by feathers.
6. Some reindeers have knees that make a clicking sound while walking. This knocking sound can be heard from great distances and is meant to help the reindeer herd stay together in blizzard.
7. Some big animals can sleep standing up thanks to a „lock“ mechanism in their knees. This system enables them to relax and rest with minimal efforts: a horse for example can stand even for years thanks to this amazing ability.
In some ways, animals are even more similar to us than we could imagine, yet the animal world is filled with strange and mesmerizing characteristics like these few listed above that illustrate perfectly how colorful the whole animal kingdom really is.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/2297078
Absence of an osseous patella and other observations in Macropodidae stifle.
Holladay SD1, Smith BJ, Smallwood JE, Hudson LC.
Abstract
The patella is a large sesamoid bone that typically develops in the tendon of insertion of the large extensor muscles of the stifle joint. Although present in almost all species of mammals and birds, it has been found to be absent in the red kangaroo and two wallaby species (family Macropodidae). In its place is a fibrocartilage pad, located in the tendon of the quadriceps femoris muscle. This structure is visible grossly, is palpable, and has the form normally expected of a bony patella. In addition, the femoral trochlea is shallow and asymmetric, and the lateral gastrocnemius sesamoid is unusually prominent. These and other related modifications in the area of the Macropodidae stifle are presented.
“Victorian Algae Art” by Celia Berrell
Leave a commentEach drop of water
from sea, soil or stream
is teeming with life.
A mi-CROS-copist’s dream!
Diatoms shimmer
in rainbows of light.
Their intricate coats
a magnificent sight.
These algae have skeletons:
glassy-grown cases
with species-specific
designs on all faces.
Placed on a slide
only microns apart,
kaleidoscope patterns
delight us as art.
First published in Double Helix (April 2018)
Reproduced with permission of CSIRO http://www.doublehelix.csiro.au
inspired by:
Klaus Kemp – The Diatomist – & Algae Kaleidoscopes https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qxkbSk–EUY
Published on Feb 9, 2017
Struck by the beauty and symmetry of diatoms, modern-day microscopist Klaus Kemp recently revived the Victorian art of diatom arrangement. In this short film by Matthew Killip, peer into the peculiar art form and witness a modern-day diatom master at work.
“Greed” by Julie Cahill
Leave a commentGreed
Full as a goog, too big a fly
Tummy’s gonna pop
and me knows exactly why
Next time me’s gonna chew me food real well
BUUUURPPP . . . .
‘Much, better
Knowing you was swell.’
“Feet” by Robyn Youl
2 CommentsQuatrain Poetry celebrates the number four. It is easy and fun to write:
A Quatrain poem is a four-line poem that rhymes.
There are four ways to organise a Quatrain rhyming scheme.
1. a/b/a/b/ rhyming scheme
2. a/a/b/b/ rhyming scheme
3. a/a/b/a/ rhyming scheme
4. a/b/c/b/ rhyming scheme
1. Cat Feet are neat & round. They need less energy to lift during movement. They grip on rough terrain. They are paws for endurance, not short bursts of speed.
Cat Feet: Rhyming scheme: a/b/a/b/ Four lines
Not for speed, not for the race
Not for the swift or fleet
Steady the rhythm, steady the pace
Arched and round cat feet.
2 .Hare Feet require more energy for locomotion, but are designed for speed. The two centre toes are longer than the outside toes and the toes arch less. Designed for running with short, high bursts of speed.
Hare Feet: Rhyming scheme: a/a/b/b/ Four lines
Two centre toes, long and strong
Grip the ground, speed me along
Race with me if you dare
Mine is the fleet foot of the hare
3. Webbed Feet are for swimming to retrieve birds or drag fishing nets ashore. The toes are connected by membrane similar to that of a frog to assist with locomotion in water.
Webbed Feet: Rhyming Scheme: a/a/b/a/ Four lines.
Bred to swim, bred to achieve
Webbed feet through the water cleave
Downed birds and fishing nets I carry
My goal in life is to retrieve
“My Teddy Bear” by Helen Katz
1 Comment
When I was born a gift was sent
From far across the sea
A teddy bear from USA
Mum’s pen-pal sent to me.
He kept me nice and warm in bed
I cuddled him all night,
But Ted was spewed on several times
Poor bear he looked a fright.
So Mum washed Ted time and again,
I’d never let him go;
At story time I’d hold him near,
He listened close, I know.
He was a constant friend of mine
Whenever I was sad,
Like back when I was seven years old
The time I lost my dad.
So Ted’s been through a lot with me
And still he lingers near
With scruffy fur and just one eye
And flippy floppy ear.
But as he’s nearly of an age
–my lovely little bear –
When Ted’s considered to be old,
A friend like him is rare.
So he and I will travel on
Till one of us is dead,
I hope like hell for my own sake
The first to go is Ted!
“Shoebox World” by Mary Serenc
Leave a commentShoebox World
You need a shoebox nothing more,
Then cut out a little door.
Inside the box is just the space,
For you to make a special place.
Is it a tiny teddy’s home?
Or a world where dinosaurs like to roam?
Does it hide treasure or a golden key?
A pirate’s world for all to see?
Is it a space adventure with moon and stars?
With rockets racing off to Mars?
Or you could make it a minature zoo,
With monkeys, lions and tigers too.
Put the lid on and open the door
Let’s see the world that you adore.
Australian Children’s Poetry 