Savanna Spider, Super ScientistSavanna Spider, Super ScientistScience-Fair MysteryScience-Fair Mystery Dustin J. Wilgers Illustrated by Nate Knott Book in the Science Saves the Day Series and the
Savanna Spider, Super ScientistSavanna Spider, Super ScientistScience-Fair MysteryScience-Fair Mystery Dustin J. Wilgers Illustrated by Nate Knott and the Author’s McPherson,VoiceKansas Book in the Science Saves the Day Series
Savanna Spider and the Science-Fair Mystery By Dustin J. Wilgers Copyright ©2020 by Dustin J. Wilgers. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, except for brief quotations in reviews, without the written permission of the author. Illustration by Nate Knott Editing and book design by Jan Gilbert Hurst Published by Author’s Voice 1315 East Euclid, McPherson, KS 67460 LibraryISBN:www.AuthorsVoicePublishing.com978-0-9970063-1-5ofCongressControlNumber: 2019918189 Printed and bound in the United States of America by Mennonite Press, Inc., Newton, Kansas.
Dedication To Eileen, the mentor who got this whole thing started. Thank you for introducing me to the fascinating world of spiders and inspiring me to share it with others.
Acknowledgments
A huge thank you to my friend Mark Malaby for his helpful sugges tions on earlier versions of both of my books. This publication is funded in part by the Chickadee Checkoff of the Nongame Wildlife Improvement Program of the Kansas Department of Wildlife, Parks, and Tourism. All persons filing a Kansas incometax form have the opportunity to make a special contribution, through the convenience of the tax form or direct donations sent to Chickadee Checkoff, 512 SE 25th Ave., Pratt, KS 67124. These contributions are earmarked for conservation of nongame wildlife. Do something wild! Make your mark on the tax form for nongame wildlife. A portion of the sales of this book will be donated to the Chickadee Checkoff Nongame Wildlife Improvement Program.
Chapters Golden Microscope … 1 It’s Not Magic, It’s Science … 10 Mount Vesuvius Mystery … 21 Detective Savanna … 36 Collecting the Evidence … 41 Science-Fair Day … 52 This story personifies the arthropod characters and makes them behave in some ways that they can’t and don’t behave naturally. However, there are several examples of real biology behind the story and some of the characters’ behaviors. Look for the symbols throughout the story along with the “Science Behind the Story” section at the back of the book that highlight some of these interesting science facts.
1 Golden Microscope 1 R
RRRRIIIIIIINNNNNGGG!!!
The bell rang at the start of the school day. Her first year of school was almost over and by now her family had the morn ing routine down. So, rather than being late as she was on her first day of school, by eight o’clock, Savanna was already sitting in her seat in Class Arachnida waiting for the day to begin. Today, however, Savanna was not chatting with any of her friends about their plans at recess as usual. Instead, she was reading the new poster hanging at the front of the classroom. Savanna tapped her legs impatiently under the desk waiting for her teacher to explain this new poster
Dustin J. Wilgers2that read in big bold letters: “SCIENCE FAIR.”
Suddenly, the speaker box at the front of the classroom crackled to life. Savanna jumped and fell backward in her chair. Instead of crashing on the floor, she stopped in mid-air. Surprised to be floating, she looked to her left and saw her best friend Sonny Solifugid holding her up with one of his powerful pedipalps. Hovering there, she gasped, “Thank you! That was a “Goodclose…”morning students!” Principal Honeybee’s warm voice buzzed over the loudspeaker. “Welcome to another great day at Arthur O. Pod Elementary School. For lunch today we have some very yummy In Solifugids (Order Solifugae, also known as camel spi ders), the pedipalps, which are the first pair of limbs in front of the walking legs, have an organ at the tip that acts like a suction cup. Scientists have figured out that soli fugids use these sticky pads to help catch their food when it tries to get away.
“Some of you may have noticed the poster at the front of the class,” Principal Honeybee continued.
Science-Fair Mystery 3
Savanna Spider and the
Savanna and her classmates all gagged together.
options for all of our students, including a delicious grass and berry salad with a dressing made with all new organic honey straight from my hive.”
“Salad again!” Sammy Scorpion cried, slamming his pincers down on the table. “That’s like the third day in a row. Don’t they know we need some meat? Throw us a bug every once in a while.”
“For this month’s focus on science, we will be holding the annual, school-wide, science fair. Each class will submit a project to compete for the Golden Microscope trophy. I expect some great projects from all of you. Maybe this year, we will put a different class name on the trophy besides Diplopoda, who has won the competition every year. So get your thinking caps on and have fun! That is all.”
Studies say the use of chemicals to prevent pests in farming may lead to bee colonies dying off in large numbers. Bees are an important insect for humans because of their work in pollinating many of our fruits and vegetables. Organic honey would be a smart choice, as it is healthier for the bees that are making the honey.
Sammy Scorpion and many of the Class Arachnida would get very frustrated with a vegetarian diet of salad. Many arachnids are carnivores, meaning they eat other an imals. There are a few arachnids that can eat plant material, including harvestmen and even some jumping spiders that eat plant pollen.
4Savanna perked up; the spines on her legs tingled with excitement.
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Savanna Spider and the Science-Fair
Mystery 5
Everyone but Savanna, that is. Savanna hadn’t moved a muscle, but her mind was racing. She didn’t know how yet, but she really wanted that Golden Microscope in her classroom.
The classroom was hopping. The buzz of the classroom slowly got louder and louder and louder, as everyone talked and scurried around in excitement.
“Class,” Mr. Vinnie Garoon said, calmly trying to get his class under control. It didn’t work. “Class,” the teacher said again, waving his pincers in the air. It still didn’t work. No one was paying attention. “CRACK!” The loud pop of his long whip-like front legs hitting the chalkboard jolted everyone to attention.“Thank you. I have a very exciting History lesson planned for this morning,” Mr. Garoon announced with a smile. Everyone in the class groaned as they slouched down in their chairs, except for Timmy Tick, who did a silent fist pump in celebration at the back of the class.“But…”
the teacher continued, “I’m guessing you would rather work on our science-fair project, so we
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Dustin J. Wilgers
Spider and
Science-Fair Mystery 7
Savanna the can move History to this afternoon.” Everyone cheered except for Timmy, who slammed his face on the desk in disappointment.Theteacherpaced back and forth at the front of the class, deep in thought. “We are going to need a science-fair project leader for the class,” he announced, then paused, still pacing. “One student in particular would make an outstanding leader because of her
8interest and skills in science shown on the first day of school. I think Savanna Spider should be our class’s lead scientist,” he said, bringing the eyes of the entire class straight to Savanna, who shrunk in her chair, a little embarrassed at all the attention.
“Everyone agrees, Savanna is our lead scientist.
Savanna was getting concerned. “I don’t know. How can you tell if he doesn’t have any eyes?” she asked, gently nudging his leg on the desk.
Dustin J. Wilgers
“Yeah, and the fact that she wears a lab coat to school every day. She is perfect for the job!” Sonny shouted, patting Savanna on the back. “Raise your pedipalps if you agree with me!” Sonny shouted.
Savanna looked around. Everyone held theirs high, except for Timmy, whose head was still on his desk. “Is he sleeping already? It’s only nine in the morn ing,” Amy Amblypygid said, sounding very annoyed.
Don’t worry, Timmy will be okay; he did the same thing last week when we had to have additional choir practice for your big concert. I think he just bumped his head a little too hard on his desk.” Mr. Garoon chuckled. “It’s time for gym class now. We will get started on our science project after you burn a little energy outside. Coach Cricket is your substitute today for Coach Katydid. He will be waiting for you at the playground for gym. Someone get Timmy up; I think he could use some fresh air. I will have the nurse check on him after class.”
Savanna Spider and the Science-Fair Mystery
Ticks (Order Acari) have a parasitic lifestyle that doesn’t need sight. They find their meal using smell, heat, and vibration.
Because of this, many tick species don’t even have eyes.
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