Issue 6: September 2011
(Inside this issue) The Symbols of Australia Farm Animals World Records Skin and Hair Africa’s Big Five Make Your Own Cornflour Slime
Don’t speak to the animals… Unless they speak to you first!
www.justkidding.com
.au
(Our Australia)
f o s l o b m y S The
a i l a r t s Au
Flag s
The Australian National Flag symbolises Australia's historical links with Britain which is where the Union Jack comes from and Australia's location in the Southern Hemisphere which is why we have the stars of the Southern Cross on our flag. The larger seven-pointed star represents the six original states and the Territories. Other flags of Australia include the Aboriginal flag, Torres Strait Islander flag and the personal Australian flag of the queen.
Coat of Arms
The Australian Coat of Arms was decided by King George V (fifth) in 1912. It consists of a shield containing the badges of the six Australian States. The shield is a symbol for Australia becoming one, which took place in 1901. On the crest there is the seven-pointed gold star on a blue and gold wreath. Six of the points represent each of the States of the Commonwealth; the seventh point represents the Commonwealth Territories. On either side there are the native Australian animals: the red kangaroo and the emu. For many years, the motto 'Advance Australia' appeared on unofficial Coats of Arms. It was officially included in the Coat of Arms in 1908.
Australia’s National Colours
Green and gold were decided to be Australia's national colours by the Governor-General on the 19th of April in 1984. Before then Australia had no official colours. Three different colour combinations traditionally had been claimed to be Australia's national colours being: red, white and blue, blue and gold and green and gold. The colours red, white and blue were in the first Coat of Arms of the Commonwealth in 1908 and are the colours of the Australian national flag as well. The colours blue and gold have heraldic significance as they are the colours of the crest in 1912 which is also the present Commonwealth Coat of Arms. The colours green and gold was very popular and were chosen to be the national colours of Australia, the green and gold also became more popular due to sport and Australian teams wearing green and gold uniforms.
te The National and Sta
Emblems
MAMMAL
BIRD
FLORAL
AUSTRALIA
RED KANGAROO*
EMU
GOLDEN WATTLE
Australian Capital Territory New South Wales
None
Gang-gang Cockatoo
Royal Bluebell
Platypus
Kookaburra
Waratah
Northern Territory
Red Kangaroo
Wedge Tail Eagle
Sturt’s Desert Rose
Queensland South Australia
Koala
Brolga
Hairy-nosed Wombat
Cooktown Orchid Sturt’s Desert Pea
Tasmania Victoria
Tasmanian Devil* Leadbeaters Possum
Piping Shrike (Whitebacked Magpie) Yellow Wattlebird* Helmeted Honeyeater
Western Australia
Numbat
Black Swan
*unofficial
Tasmanian Blue Gum Common Heath Red and Green Kangaroo Paw
s l a m i n Farm A
(Pets)
Horses
Owning a horse can be very rewarding, but they are also time-consuming and expensive. Apart from grass most horses especially sport horses will be fed a variety of grains as part of their daily diet. There are many different breeds of horses, the most popular ones being the Arabian, the American Quarter horse, paint horses, miniature horses, the thoroughbred, the Appaloosa and the Welsh pony. A baby horse is called a foal. Its father is called a stallion, and its mother is called a mare. In the past horses used to be very important farm animals. Farmers needed them to pull the plough, to pull carts with heavy loads, for transport and many other heavy jobs around the farm. Today these jobs are done by machines. There are some farmers who still use horses to plough fields. Some do this so that we don't lose this very old way of doing things and so we can see how it used to be done. But a few farmers believe that ploughing is done better by horse, just like it used to be done for hundreds of years. On large farms today, horses are used when the cattle or the sheep that have been grazing in huge paddocks have to be moved to another place.
Donkeys
Big or small, donkeys are really cool farm animals, generally kept for the purpose of guarding other livestock. They make great companions for horses, once the horse gets over their funny appearance, and sound. A young donkey is called a foal. Its father is called a jack and its mother is called a jenny. Donkeys are not seen working on farms very much any more. They used to work on farms by pulling small carts or by carrying heavy loads on their backs. People used to ride them when they travelled from one place to another. Now donkeys are mainly kept as pets. They can be black, white, every shade of brown and grey, even a pinkish colour. Some can be two or even three colours. Donkeys can live for a long time: usually about 40 years or more.
Goats
Goats first came to Australia with the first fleet. A female is called a doe, or nanny goat, a male is called a buck, or billy goat and a baby is called a kid. They are usually browsers and are known for escaping and wondering off. In every goat herd there is a herd queen (or pack leader). They're often the oldest and get to eat first. Finding out the age of a goat is called toothing a goat. A goat has no teeth in the upper front of its mouth, but has eight teeth in the lower front. You can tell the age of the goat by the size and condition of their teeth. So a goat with only two permanent teeth is called a two-toother and is around 1 year old. When goats are pregnant you say the goats 'are kidding'.
D uc k s
There are quite a few different breeds of ducks. They are bred for all sorts of purposes; as snail eaters, egg layers, for meat or simply as a hobby so it's just a matter of choosing a breed that suits your backyard and needs. Ducks need a shed or shelter that has a predator-proof yard or house to keep them safe at night and provide protection from the weather. Dry straw or similar bedding is necessary for the ducks to sleep on and lay in. The water container needs room enough for the ducks to splash and wash themselves and therefore minimise mud clinging to feathers. A single duck can be lonely so it’s best to keep two or more ducks.
(Fun Stuff)
s d r o c e R d l r o W
Worlds Oldest Living Person
Guinness World Records presented a plaque to Besse Cooper, the 'World's Oldest Living Person' to mark her 115th birthday at her residence in Monroe, Georgia. Senior Gerontology Consultant, Robert Young was on site to re-issue the official title and certificate formally, as Besse had briefly lost the designation to Brazilian Maria Gomes Valentim on May 18th. After Valentim's passing on June 21st, Besse was reinstated as the 'World's Oldest Living Person' at 114-years-old. Born in Tennessee in 1896, Besse Cooper moved to Monroe, Georgia during World War One in search of work as a teacher. She married her husband Luther in 1924, and they had four children. Today, she has 12 grandchildren and more than a 12 great-grandchildren and great-great grandchildren.
Oldest Man to swim the English Channel Roger Allsopp has succeeded in becoming the world's oldest man to swim the English Channel. Aged 70 years and 4 months, the retired breast cancer surgeon completed the 44.7 kilometre swim in 17 hours and 51 minutes and 19 seconds. Roger beat the current Guinness World Record held by American George Brunstad who made the swim aged 70 years and 4 days on 29 August 2004. Roger said: "I feel an immense sense of achievement and relief that I have been successful."
Tallest Man Living The tallest man living is Sultan Kosen who measured 251 cm in Ankara, Turkey, on 08 February 2011. The part-time farmer was the first man over 2.43 metres to be measured by Guinness World Record in over 20 years. Guinness World Records only knows of 10 confirmed or reliable cases in history of humans reaching 2.43 metres or more. Sultan also holds the records for widest hand span and largest feet on a living person.
Tallest Twins Tallest Male Teenager Living The tallest male under the age of 18 years is Brenden Adams who was born on the 20th of September in 1995; he is 225.1 cm tall and is only 16 years old.
Identical twins Michael and James Lanier who were born on the 27th of November in 1969 in Troy, Michigan, USA, both stand at 2.235m. Their sister Jennifer is only 1.57 metres tall. The tallest female twins Ann and Claire Recht, who were born in 1988, were measured both horizontally and vertically, three times during 10 January 2007 in Oregon, USA and found to have a height of 2.01 metres individually.
r i a H d n a n i k S (The Human Body)
? w o n K u o y D id
Shivering is a way your body has of trying to get warmer.
One human hair can support 99 grams. There are about 100 touch receptors in each of your fingertips.
You create a new skin every month and a new skeleton every 3 mo nths.
In one day, a human sheds 10 billion skin flakes. This totals to approximately two kilograms in a year. Most dust particles in your house are made from dead skin.
n any Facial hair grows faster tha t, if fac In other hair on the body. ved sha er nev the average man over his beard it would grow to e. tim life his ing dur s tre 9 me
S ki n
Right now there are over a million dust mites, microscopic critters invisible to the eye, on your mattress and pillow, chomping on the dead skin cells that fell off you last night!
you Even where on irs ha e don't se ve u' yo , dy bo your e got them; ther 5 nd are arou . million of them
Feet have 500,000 sweat glands and can produce around 400ml of sweat a day. Men usually have much more active sweat glands than women.
Humans shed and regrow outer skin cells about every 27 days. Skin protects your delicate internal organs from the elements and as such, dries and flakes off completely about once a month so that it can maintain its strength.
Epidermis
Human lips have a reddish colour because of the great absorption of tiny capillaries just below the skin. The blood in these capillaries is normally highly oxygenated and therefore quite red. This explains why the lips appear pale when a person is anaemic or has lost a great deal of blood. It also explains why the lips turn blue in very cold weather. Cold causes the capillaries to constrict, and the blood loses oxygen and changes to a darker colour.
Dermis
Subcutaneous
Hai r
Blondes have more hair. Hair colour determines how thick the hair on your head is. The average human has 100,000 hair follicles, each of which is capable of producing 20 individual hairs during a person’s lifetime. Blondes average 146,000 follicles while people with black hair tend to have about 110,000 follicles. Those with brown hair fit the average with 100,000 follicles and redheads have the least dense hair, with about 86,000 follicles.
The lifespan of a human hair is 3 to 7 years on average. Your hairs actually have a pretty long life providing they don’t go through any strain. Your hairs will likely get to see several different haircuts, styles, and even possibly decades before they fall out on their own. You need to lose around 50% of your scalp hairs before anyone else will be able to notice. You lose hundreds of hairs a day but you’ll have to lose a lot more before you or anyone else will notice. Human hair is virtually indestructible. Aside from its flammability (will burn), human hair deteriorates at such a slow rate that it is practically doesn’t disintegrate. If you’ve ever wondered how your hair blocks up your pipes so quickly consider this; hair cannot be destroyed by cold, change of climate, water, or other natural forces and it is resistant to many kinds of acids and corrosive chemicals.
Don’t speak to the animals… Spot the
10 Differences
* Answers on the next page.
You may need to zoom right in for this, some of these are a little tricky.
Mild crude humour
IN CINEMAS SEPTEMBER 1(TAS)
Unless they speak to you first! Help Griffin through
the zoo
Unscramble these
Animal Names AFERFIG
BERA
LATNEPHE
LAIGOLR
ONLI
WOFL
AND SEPTEMBER 8(ALL OTHER STATES)
(Animals)
Africa
! e v i f g i b T he The term 'Big Five' which was originally used by hunters refers to five of Africa's greatest wild animals; the lion, the leopard, the elephant, the buffalo and the rhino. Some people ask why is the hippo, the gorilla or the giraffe not part of the big five and that is because of the difficulty in catching these large animals, mostly due to their fierceness when cornered and when hunters shot at them.
ELEPHANT
Elephants are the largest land animals living in the world today, their huge size and thick grey skin gives them an overpowering presence. Africa is home for two of the three living elephant species: the African bush elephant and the African forest elephant. Both the African bush elephant and African forest elephant were once considered the same species, and were known simply as the African elephant. Due to their size, elephants do not have any animal predators in the wild; even a keen lion may try, but is not able to overpower these animals. The only predators they really have are human hunters. Elephant calves however may be preyed upon particularly if the mother is not nearby, otherwise the mother will often assist in protecting the calf.
RHINO
There are two species of rhino in Africa, the Black rhino and the White rhino. Black rhinos have suffered the most drastic reduction in population in the last 20 years. There are now only about 4000 left in the wild. The white rhino has higher numbers at over 17,000. Rhinos are actually neither black nor white in colour, they are all grey. Black rhinos live in savannah, shrub and tropical bush areas; they eat leaves, bushes, small tree branches and shoots. White rhinos live in the savannah and are grazers. Their lips are what distinguish them from one another, a black rhino has a prehensile lip to strip leaves off bushes. A white rhino has a long, flat lip adapted for grazing.
LION
The African lion, king of the sub-Saharan savannah, has been admired for its beauty and strength for thousands of years. Lions are very social animals, unlike other cats; they live in prides of several females, their young and a couple of males. They will work together when hunting difficult prey like a buffalo, but usually they'll take down an antelope on their own. Females hunt more than males, they are more likely to ambush their prey, rather than track and chase.
LEOPARD Leopards use trees as look out platforms and for protection, so you have to remember to look up to see this beautiful cat. Leopards are shy and nocturnal; they can swim and live in a wider range of habitats than most other wild cats. A leopard's spots offer excellent camouflage as they move around. Leopards tend to store their fresh kill up in a tree to avoid it getting stolen by lions and hyenas. Leopards are smaller than lions but an adult male can still weigh in at around 90 kilograms. They can run at speeds of over 55 kilometres per hour, they are also extremely agile jumpers.
BUFFALO
Cape Buffalo are normally found in protected wildlife areas throughout sub-Saharan Africa. Cape buffalo can grow to be very large, an adult can be stand from around 1.2 to 1.8 metres tall and males weigh in at around 700 kilogram's. Cape buffalo need to drink every day, so are often found close to water and never in the desert. They prefer to eat tall, grainy grass as well as bushes. Cape buffalo numbers are decreasing because they are hunted for their meat. There are thought to be around 1 million Cape buffalo left in Africa.
Zookeeper Spot the 10 Differences: 1. The danger sign has moved to the lower fence rail. 2. The Gorilla’s watch is on the other hand. 3. Griffin’s boots have changed colour. 4. The Elephant statue is facing the other direction 5. A wolf has appeared. 6. The top of the gate is missing. 7.The lamp post in the background has moved. 8. The bin has disapeared. 9. A giraffe has appeared. 10. The lamp post in the foreground has changed shape.
(Experiments)
r u o l f n r o C
S l i me
What you need •C ornflour • Food colouring • A small mixing bowl • W ater
What to do 1. P our some cornflour into a mixing bowl.
2. S tir in small amounts of water until the cornflour has become a very thick paste. 3. T o make the slime the colour of your choice, thoroughly stir about five drops of food colouring into the mixture. 4. S tir your slime REALLY slowly. This shouldn’t be hard to do. 5. S tir your slime REALLY fast. This should be almost impossible. 6. N ow punch your slime hard and fast. It should feel like you’re punching a solid. 7. Y ou can keep your cornflour and water mixture covered in a fridge for several days. If the cornflour settles, you need to stir it to make it work well again.
What ’s Happening
Anything that flows is called a fluid. This means that both gases and liquids are fluids.
Fluids like water which flow easily are said to have low viscosity, whereas fluids like cold honey which do not flow so easily are said to have a high viscosity.
Cornflour slime is a special type of fluid that doesn’t follow the usual rules of fluid behaviour. When a pressure is applied to slime, its viscosity increases and the cornflour slime becomes thicker. At a certain point, slime actually seems to lose its flow and behave like a solid. Cornflour slime is an example of a shear-thickening fluid. The opposite happens in shear-thinning fluids; they get runnier when you stir them or shake them up. For example, when toothpaste is sitting on a toothbrush it is pretty thick, so you can turn the toothbrush upside down and the toothpaste doesn’t fall off. But if it was that thick when you tried to squeeze it out of the tube, there is no way you could manage it. Fortunately, toothpaste gets runnier when you are squeezing it out of the tube. Other shear-thinning fluids include: • Blood • Paint • Ballpoint pen ink • Nail polish. Although there are lots of shear-thinning and shear-thickening fluids, nobody has a really good idea why they behave the way they do. The interactions between atoms in the fluids are so complicated that even the world’s most powerful supercomputers can not model what is happening. This can be a real problem for people who design machinery that involves shearthinning fluids, because it makes it hard to be sure if they will work.
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