Who Needs Backbones
Yup, life is busy, so blogging is slow. Still struggling with balancing everything that I want to do. And trying to figure out what I want to write about.
One thing that we have been doing is having fun learning about invertebrates. Earlier this year we took two classes at the National Zoo on the squishy creatures. We were lucky to have an instructor who obviously loves what he does (we find that instructors at the zoo and other museums can be hit or miss…but you can tell the ones who are really passionate about their job) and that enthusiasm rubbed off, especially with Kyle. We have since been reading/watching quite a bit and finding that many of these guys are fairly intelligent (especially octopi, who are escape artists).
One of our favorite exhibits at the Zoo were the cuttlefish. Kyle and I have completely fallen in love with the cute little critters. We got to see them fed and it was fascinating to see them change not just color, but shape. A friend of ours told us about the DVD Cuttlefish: Kings of Camouflage (available on Netflix) which I highly recommend. Even Jason was drawn in by the fascinating little guys.
We also enjoyed the following short (5 minutes) TED video:
We also enjoyed this longer TED video by underwater film maker Mike DeGruy. Wonderful storyteller and obviously passionate about what he does. I have been more aware lately of what a joy it is to listen to people who truly enjoy what they do.
We also enjoyed Sea Creatures with Many Arms and picked up a book on jelly fish called Sea Jellies: Rainbows in the Sea.
