Taiga

​ ​​**__Taiga Group: Kaitlyn- Geographer Shea- Climatologist Holleigh- Producer Alli- Naturalist __**

[[image:http://www.eoearth.org/images/thumb/2/28/Interior_Alaska-Yukon_lowland_taiga_1.jpg/250px-Interior_Alaska-Yukon_lowland_taiga_1.jpg width="335" height="177"]]
=** Taiga Nature!!!!! **= = Mammals: = ==

**The American Black Bear is one of the many animals that live in the Taiga. The average Black Bear can weigh up to 220-594 pounds and lives 25 years. Their diet is 75% made up of plants, vegetables, and most vegetation, while the 25% left is made of carcasses, honey, small mammals, and insects. They are usually 5-6 feet from nose to tail, and 32-38 inches from toe to top of the shoulder. They have rounded ears, a short stubby tail, and short claws that are useful for climbing the trees. they are usually black but can also have phases of brown, cinnamin, beige, and a bluish-white. They live mostly in North America. The females reach sexual maturity 4-5 years after birth, while it takes the males 5-6 years. the Black Bear's mating season is in the summer and they give birth around janurary and feburary. the cubs weigh 8-11 ounces at birth, and the male\father does not stay around to help raise the cubs, they go off and mate again. the females become really territorial around her cubs, and and will attack and try to kill any animal that trys to come between her and her cubs.** **The Grey Wolf can survive in most biomes as long as food is plentiful and the climate is moderatively cold, but they are best suited for the Siberian Taiga. The Siberian Taiga is a boreal forest with long, cold, winters, and short summers. The Grey wolf is 3 feet tall from foot to shoulder, and % feet in length from nose to the tip of their tail. their weight ranges from 40 to 176 pounds. the male wolf is larger than the female, although the female matures faster than the male. The female reaches sexual maturity a year after birth, while it takes the male two years to mature. Grey wolves have long legs with large paws, that have fleshy pads and claws for better traction. They can also spread their paws as to have more support walking over the snow. They have large bushy tails, pointed ears and yellowish-brown eyes, and Rough coats with varying color, they can be grey, brown, white, black and even grayish-brown fur in europe. They have wooly coats for insulatin, and also long gaurd hairs to keep out moisture. Their hearing is 20 times better than a humans, while their hearing is 100 times better. Their vison is very motion sensitive although they can not see color. they have enhanced night vision because of tape tum. A grey wolfs jaw can present a crushing power of over 500 pounds per square inch. Grey wolfs only mate about once a year between janurary and march. their gestation period is only 63 days and every litter is only about 5-6 pups. The wolf pups weigh only 1 pound at birth and they will stay with their mom for 8 weeks after their birth. Wolves live in packs and are to make hunting easier, and are usually lead by a breeding pair. The grey wolves are carnivores and eat mostly moose, caribu, and more deer-like animals, they will also eat rodents if they have to, and can also be scaverngers. They have many different hunting methods, some of those being: flushing it out of burrows or holes in the ground, stalking, and trickery. The grey wolf is at the top of the food chain except for humans. Their population is doing ok in Canada, and Alaska, but are endangered in North America.**

= Birds: =

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 * The bald eagle is a large bird, and is also very strong. They usually weigh up to 8 to 12 pounds. Their wingspan is 2 meters (7 feet) and they are more than a meter from their head to their tail.They have a curved beak that is also large and strong. Their toes have talons that are also jus very strong claws (nails) They have amazing eyesight that helps them when they hunt. They perfer to eat dead animals but will also eat live chikens or fish. They do not need to eat everyday, but they change their diet according to were they live. They are a bird of prey and will attack for food, they hunt in pairs and even steal food from other eagles. They are found over most of North America, but 80% are in Alaska. They were called an endangered species until July of the year 2000. **
 * The Long Eared Owl is a medium sized bird of prey. They are usually about 35 centimeters long (13 inches) and weigh about 8 to 10 ounces, and their wingspan is about 37- 40 inches long. They got their name from the tuft of hair on the top of their head, they do have ears and one of them is 50% larger than the other and higher up on its head. This helps them when they hunt because it alows them to hear in a 3-dimensional way. They have yellow eyes, black bills, and a dark collored throat. They have a round but flat face and they always look serious no matter what. They have very strong talons to help grab their prey and not drop it when they catch it. They can turn their head side to side, and can also turn their head around so that they can see behind them. This helps them hear better when they are looking for food. They live in Boreal forests or the taiga. This ranges from Southern Canada to the middle of the United States, and they sometimes migrate to mexico during the winter and are also found in Europe and Asia. They live mostly in woolands and feilds but do not go deep into the forests. They will move into larger nests that were abandoned by larger birds. They will lay many eggs (up to seven) and will raise them for 60 days (about two months) before leaving them to fend for themselves. They sleep during the day and they hunt and eat during the night. They fly low as to catch their prey easier, and they are mainly prederators. They eat voles and other small rodents and don't usually come near people except for during bad weather when they come into peoples gardens to hunt for mice and small rodents. They are not on the endangered list for right now**.

= Trees: =

**The white fir is 60-100 feet tall and can live up to 300 years old, their leaves are 2-3 inches long and slightely flattened. This is a very large forest tree. It can be a silvery green or a silvery blue and soft to the touch.Its cones are 2-5 inches long and can be colored an olive green to a purple, and its bark is an ashy gray with resin blisters.This tree can be found in most western regions or North America. The most used part of this tree is the bark that is used as\for lumber. It is also the only native fir in North America.This tree is also used as a christmas tree, because it smells great and is very sturdy. Squirrels enjoy this tree and porcupines enjoy chewing on its bark. This tree makes a very good home\shelter for the grouse because it makes a great roosting place, and food (buds and needles) for this animal.**

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 * The white spruce is found beyond the arctic ciclre but can also be found as far south as the Pyrenees Mountains.You can find 40 different spruce trees in the northern hamisphere, and in North America you can find them as far south as Carolina, or Arizona. The White tree's needles are very stiff and less than an inch long, 2.5 centimeters exactly. White spruce trees are very large, growing up to 150 feet. Most spruce trees are green, but some like the black spruce tree are named for the coloration of their bark, and foliage. **



= Amphibians: =

**The american toad is better adapted to a terrestrial lifestyle than most frogs. They have a heavy set body, with short stocky limbs, and thick skin that helps keep in moisture.They have a large bladder from where they reabsorb water during the dry seasons. American Toads have little spiky growths on the bottom of both of their hind legs that diginto the ground to create concealement. They need water to reproduce, so during the raining seasons they congregate around temporary ponds, ditches, lakes, shallow, or slow flowing water to mate. American Toads will eat almost any invertebrate that is in the area at the time, and they use the same methods that most frogs do, they flick their tongues out very quickly and catch the bugs and pull them back into their mouth. If they need to they will use their eyes to push the food down into their throat so they can swallow. The warts that are on the American toad are actually glands that can sometimes produce toxic substances.** = = = = = = **The pacific frog is the frog that has made the "ribbit" famous. Holleywood producers would go outside and record these frogs making their noise.The pacific tree frogs are really easy to find because you just have to listen for their croaking. They usually reach about 51 milimeters in length, and they can be black, brown, grey, tan or green, with spotches, and they can change their color from lighter to darker. Their range goes from low plant growth, ponds, marshes, lakes, ditches, and slow flowing streams.** = = = = = = = Reptiles: = = = **The short horned lizard is the only iquanid native to canada. They have a flat wide body that is covered in spines. These spines match the color of the whole body while making this lizard very hard to find even in bare, sandy areas. They are insectivorous, that eat mainly ants. They require a very specific eviroment for them to remain healthy, so it would not be wise to keep them as pets even though some people do.** = = = = = = **The Northern water snake is sometimes mistook for the vicious, and toxic cottonmouth, due to how similar their coloring and size are. (The Northern water snake can reach up to 135 centimeters in length) They are not found north of Southern Virginia very often, and if they are forced to defend themselves they can be very viscious snakes. This is another reason why people sometimes think that they are a cottonmouth. Their bite may not be poisonous, but their bite can lead to a bacterial infection. Of course they are an excellant swimmer and they live\are found along rivers, streams, lakes, and\or ponds.** = =

= = = = = Taiga Climate: = = = = = = = = = = = = = **Because of Earth’s tilt, the Taiga is not facing sun during the winter. Because the Taiga has little sun the climate is filled with arctic air. Abnormally cold winds bring very cold air from the Arctic Circle. Temperatures drop even more on cloudless nights because the heat energy can travel to space without being absorbed by clouds and pushed back down to Earth to be used as “heat”. Because of the wintery climates of the Taiga has an average rainfall of 12-33 inches, 40 inches at top a year. Most of the rain falls in the summer.** **The range for the taiga goes all the way around the world from Alaska, to Canada, Scandinavia, Russia and China. Taiga climate is only found in the northern hemisphere, because there isn't enough land mass in the southern hemisphere to create a taiga climate there. The highest temperature for the taiga biome has been 104°F.The climate of this biome is that the temperature can change from one extreme to another.**

**Winter:** ** Lasts for six or seven months with below freezing temperatures. Winter is the longest season of the Taiga. The winters are long, dark and cold with lots of snow. The average winter temperature is under 26.6°F. The average precipitation for the winter is between 20-40 inches. Summer: ** **Summer is the rainy and hot season of the Taiga; it is also a very short season. The summers are warm and short when the daylight can be up to 20 hours long. In the summer the temperature can reach as high as 104°F. The average precipitation for the summer is between 10-20 inches. Fall: Fall is the shortest season for the Taiga. Spring: ** ** Before Spring ponds are frozen and animals are in hibernation but when spring comes it brings flowers and animals wake up. **

**The lowest and highest temperatures that occur for taiga are the following: Winter's LOWEST temperature in taiga is -65°F Winter's HIGHEST temperature is 30° F Summer's LOWEST temperature is 30° F Summer's HIGHEST temperature is 70° F**

Taiga Geology:

 * The soil of the Taiga is similar to that of the tundra's, Because of the harsh temperatures during the winter, some parts of the Taiga have Permafrost, or a permanently frozen layer of soil. Water from precipitation and melting snow in warmer seasons cannot seep through the permafrost, so the Taiga ground remains soft and damp in some parts. Other areas that do not have permafrost (like the Canadian sheild in North America) have a layer of hard rock that remains close to the surface. Like permafrost, this dense rock prevents water from escaping the surface and, therefore, leaves the soil soggy in the spring and summer seasons. **

**The land surface of the Taiga was covered with ice until about ten thousand years ago when the glaciers of the last ice age ended. As they melted back, they left the land surfacewith depressions that have since become small lakes and bogs. Soils have only had a relatively short amount of time to form since the glaciers retreated and so often thin, and they can be nutrient poor because of the cold climate too.** Evergreen trees are trees which retain their foliage year round, rather than losing their leaves annually like deciduous trees do. There are a number of different types of evergreen trees, and some distinct advantages to being evergreen as opposed to deciduous. Many tropical trees are evergreens, and evergreens are also very common in temperate climates. In colder regions of the world, evergreens are more rare, but still present. **

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