What We Learned Today

Today we had our first "Bob" class of the Fall. I call them "Bob" classes for lack of a better name. They are classes taught by a local "guy-of-all-trades" named Bob, who also teaches at the Science Museum, and he is such a well-spring of knowledge. I wish I could just transfer everything he knows into my brain. As my husband said, if society were to collapse, THIS is the kind of guy you want to have around. I think these classes are some of the best of the things we have had on our calendar the past two years. Last year we learned about Native American and Colonial ways of doing things: making rope, basket weaving, stone tools, candle making, fire starting, cooking on a fire, etc. Our next set of classes were on "Simple Machines". We learned about levers, inclined planes, batteries, screws, sundials and compasses, and trebuchets. This time around the topic is something close to my heart; Nature Walks through local forests learning all about the things that are there. This is the kind of knowledge that is very hard to get from a book, mostly because you wouldn't know what kinds of questions to ask to find out.

We learned about annual and periodical cicada life cycles. Have you ever found a cicada flying or on the ground without an abdomen? It's still alive and moving but seems to be missing most of it's body. Well, it turns out the reason is that there is a fungus that feeds on the abdomen of male cicadas. Since adult cicadas exist merely to mate and die, this isn't a huge hardship and the male doesn't really need it's intestines. It transfers the fungus to the female when it mates and the fungus gets to live on in the next generation. We had an emergence of the 13 year cicada this year, and so it's especially interesting to talk about them now. We won't see that particular cicada above ground in these parts for another 13 years. My daughter will be 23 when they emerge again!

Our next lesson was on the longleaf pine. This is a native of the Southeastern US and the State Tree of North Carolina. He explained how this tree is adapted to periodic fires and fire suppression is a main cause of it's decline. The first stage of a long-leaf pine seedling is the "grass stage". It stays like a small bushy bit of grass for a long time, but it also has a huge tap-root where it stores energy.

 After a fire the tree will sprout up really quickly in the "bottle brush" stage. This way of growing is advantageous because that bit of height is what it needs to get above the usual fast moving, but low  brush fire. It's bark is also thick and scaly and fire resistant.

You can contrast this growth with the growth of a loblolly pine. The loblolly sprouts right away and tends to grow like your average tree. Little saplings with thin bark. These do well when the fires don't come, but will burn up in a fire.

We learned many things, but just let me relate one more really interesting thing we learned and then I'll stop being the nature nerd I am.

Doodle bugs. Do you know what a "doodle bug" is? Did you even know that there was a real bug that goes by that name? Well, here's another question. If you've ever spent time around picnic tables or shelters outdoors, have you ever noticed some little craters in the dirt? It looks almost like they were formed by water falling on the ground when it rains. Turns out those little craters are really the pit traps of the doodle bug, also known as the antlion. We dug a few of these up and looked at them. Here is a picture of one close up, which is much scarier than seeing them as little specs coming out of the dirt.

Surprisingly, this is the larval form. The adult looks a bit like a lacewing or a damselfly. Here's the wikipedia page if you are interested:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Antlion

Maybe not everyone would agree with me, but this is the kind of learning I think is so often missing these days. Real people relating real knowledge directly through experience. You just can't beat it. These kids, and the adults too, will remember this stuff, and whether or not it ever comes in handy, it's a piece of their world they will understand, know something about and marvel at. Admittedly, antilion knowledge may not actually come in handy, but you never know.:)