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The Remington Nature Center of St. Joseph WHERE HISTORY AND NATURE COLLIDE... Nature News Winter/Spring 2017 A Note Concerning Spring Wildlife... By Shelly Cox, Naturalist One of the most common phone calls we take at the Remington Nature Center deals with baby wildlife. Most individuals want to know what they should do when they find a baby animal. The answer to that question varies with each situation, but generally leaving the baby there is the best solution. Bunnies, birds and squirrels are often “rescued” by concerned citizens believing they are abandoned, when in fact they are being cared for by their parents. Wildlife parents will not remain with their offspring continuously throughout the day as this would attract unwanted attention to the nest and risk the babies being found by a hungry predator. Contact Shelly Cox, naturalist with Remington Nature Center, with any questions about wildlife. She can be reached directly at 816-596-8211, or call the main number at 816-271-5499. Upcoming craft events Tuesday, April 4 10:30-11am Mother Nature READS - Join naturalist Shelly Cox as Mother Nature for a nature-themed storytime for ages 18 months-6 years. FUNNY FROGS... It’s that time of year, time for the frogs to return. Learn about frogs and just how cool they really are. Saturday, April 8 1-3pm Plant a Seedling - Let’s build a pot and plant a seed! Saturday, April 29 1-3pm Bird Nest Collage - We’ll build a bird nest on a paper plate. Tuesday, May 2 10:30-11am Mother Nature READS - Join naturalist Shelly Cox as Mother Nature for a nature-themed storytime for ages 18 months-6 years. SPIDERS... Learn why spiders are Mother Nature’s busy helpers. Meet a live tarantula. Monthly Scavenger Hunt Fish ing feed zy fren 10:30am, EVERY Friday Come help us cut up worms to feed the Missouri River fish who live in our 7,000 gallon aquarium. Their diet consists of minnows, worms, corn, and peas. Every month, twelve items will be hidden indoors, throughout the nature center. Kids and families can do the scavenger hunt anytime during operational hours. All you have to do is inquire at the front desk and we’ll give you a clipboard so you can write down where you find the items. Once they have been found, kids will get a sticker, temporary tattoo, and a special small prize. Hidden items and prizes change every month! photos... The Bee Basics By Barbara Russell, Administrative Technician We know that honey is made by bees, but, how do they turn flower nectar into honey? Bees gather nectar, a sweet liquid, from flowers in a special pouch called a honey stomach. Their bodies produce chemicals called enzymes that are added to the nectar. Animal Safari Remington Nature Center Photos by Lauren Black A bee flies back to the colony and regurgitates, or vomits, the nectar. Another bee eats the regurgitated nectar, adds more enzymes, and then vomits it again into a cell of the honeycomb. Then, the real work begins! Nectar has a lot of water in it, however, honey is only about 18 percent water. The bees use their wings to fan the nectar, which dries it out and makes it thicker. Once a cell is full of honey, the bees seal it with beeswax. The stored honey provides food for them during the winter, when there are no flowers producing nectar. When bees collect nectar, they also transfer pollen from the male part of a plant to the female part. This allows the plant to grow and reproduce itself. This process is called pollination. Without pollination, plants wouldn’t continue to grow. Honeybees are social insects, meaning they work together as a colony. Within each colony, there are three types of bees. There is one queen; the queen lives from one to four years and can lay up to 2,000 eggs each day. There are tens of thousands of worker bees; workers are the female bees we see flying from flower to flower, gathering nectar. They are the daughters of the queen. They live only 30 to 60 days. Workers have many jobs; they care for the brood, or baby bees, they keep the hive clean and build new cells, they gather food and guard the hive. Lastly, there are a few thousand drones; these male bees mate with a queen from a different colony. They live just 30 to 40 days. As our climate changes, bees are having to adjust. For example, flowers bloom at different times of the year than they used to. Flooding washes away nectar from flowers and keeps bees in the hive. During droughts, plants produce fewer flowers and less nectar. Bees might seem small, but they play a huge role in our ecosystem. Experts say one-third of the food we eat has been pollinated by bees. That means that out of every three bites you take, one has been affected by bees. 1502 MacArthur Drive St. Joseph, MO 64505 816-271-5499 www.facebook.com/RemingtonNatureCenter www.stjoenaturecenter.info Hours: Monday-Saturday 10am - 5pm Sunday 1pm - 5pm Admission: Adults: $3 Seniors: $2 Youth (4-15): $1 3 and under: Free Closed on... Martin Luther King, Jr. Day President’s Day Easter Thanksgiving Christmas Eve Christmas New Year’s Eve New Year’s Day