Animals don’t care what we call them, but naming helps us understand, appreciate, and protect them. We use different names for different types of animals in the same species - like a doe (female deer) or a kit (young skunk). Learning names makes animals more interesting and can inspire us to care for their habitats. Surprised by any group names? Curious about others? That curiosity is a great reason to learn more!

Robins find worms using sight, not sound, smell or touch. They tilt their heads to look into holes they or others have made, spotting visible worms below the surface. Studies show robins ignore sounds or smells and only react when they can see a worm. Other birds eat worms too, like killdeers and woodcocks. Woodcocks do a unique dance once thought to help find worms, but it may actually be a warning signal to predators.

Many animals are nocturnal, meaning they’re active at night and rest during the day. This behavior helps them avoid predators, reduce competition, hunt more effectively, or stay cool in hot climates. Some species are also becoming more nocturnal to avoid humans. These animals often have special adaptations like sharp hearing, enhanced night vision, or echolocation. However, threats like light pollution and climate change may disrupt their nocturnal habits and ecosystems.

Most animals hunt for food day by day. However, some animals, like squirrels and chipmunks, hoard and bury their supply of food while others, like chickadees and nuthatches, hide their food under loose bark, chimneys, and sides of buildings. Animals who eat live prey will dig underground chambers filled with their food source, like moles, or will hide their leftovers with surrounding scraps of terrain, like bobcats and foxes.

The sky looks blue because of Rayleigh scattering. Sunlight is made of many colors, each with different wavelengths. Blue light has shorter wavelengths and scatters more when it hits molecules in the atmosphere. This scattered blue light reaches our eyes, making the sky appear blue. We don’t see violet skies because the sun gives off more blue light and our eyes are more sensitive to blue. At sunrise and sunset, light travels farther, so reds and oranges shine through.

It is never truly too cold to snow because moisture, not temperature, is the key factor. Snow can fall at any temperature above absolute zero. While heavy snow is more common at 15 degrees or warmer, it can still occur in colder places like Yakutsk, Russia. Colder air holds less moisture, so snow tends to be lighter and fluffier with a higher snow ratio, meaning more inches of snow from less water.

Birds are full of surprises! Crows hold "funerals" to assess danger, hummingbirds can fly backwards, and some birds rub ants on themselves (anting) to stay clean. Owls swallow prey whole and regurgitate pellets, while shrikes impale prey with sharp objects for later. Woodpeckers can peck 16 times per second, and pigeons recognize human faces. Blue jays collect paint chips for calcium, some birds sleep while flying, and turkey vultures defend themselves by vomiting!

Early European settlers mistakenly called bison "buffalo," a name that has stuck to this day. Although both belong to the Bovidae family, bison differ from buffalo in size, horn shape, and geographic location. Indigenous groups like the Lakota depended on bison for survival. Westward expansion nearly wiped-out bison, reducing their numbers from millions to fewer than 1,000 by the 1890s. Today, around 500,000 exist, with Yellowstone hosting the only continuously wild herd.