Can you spot Pipisin Pangolin hiding in the Easter eggs? (click on the image to print out and colour).
Author: Rachel L Shaw
#200Fish
Worm pipefish in a rockpool (collage of painted papers and card) ~ my contribution to the #200Fish project with artists illustrating 200 species of fish from the North Sea.
Hiding amongst the seaweed in the rockpools of the North Sea coast, could be this relative of the seahorse. The worm pipefish (Nerophis lumbriciformis) has a similar upturned snout to a seahorse and exhibits similar behaviour with the parental duties being undertaken by the male.
Females are larger, more colourful and more active than males. After courtship and mating, the female transfers about 150 eggs into a shallow groove on the male’s belly. The male protects the eggs until they hatch as free-swimming baby pipefish and drift away in the current. Here, the males parental responsibilities end.
As breeding is correlated with seawater temperatures below 15.5°C, these fish are likely to be susceptible to changes in ocean temperatures. Extreme site fidelity and homing behaviour has also been documented in worm pipefish so they are perhaps unlikely to respond well to change.
Worm pipefish grow to about 15cm long (illustrated lifesize, artwork size: 21.5cm x 31.5cm).
Information from:
MarLIN – The Marine Life Information Network
#200Fish is a project of Transition Town Louth
Pop-up pangolin card
Make and send a pop-up pangolin card. The cute pangolin mom playing with her pangopup appears when you open the card.
For a pdf template and instructions, click on this image:
Use your card to help raise awareness of pangolins! Send it to a friend who might not know that pangolins even exist. Add some pangolin facts to the front and back of the card.
- Pangolins are mammals with large overlapping scales covering their bodies.
- The scales are made of keratin, just like our fingernails.
- 20% of a pangolin’s weight is comprised of scales.
- As a defense against predators, they roll up into a ball. Even lions and tigers can’t prise them open.
- A pangolin’s tongue is longer than it’s body. The tongue is sticky and they use them to catch ants and termites.
- A pangolin can eat 70 million ants per year.
- There are eight species of pangolin: four in Asia and four in Africa.
- Sadly, a pangolin is snatched from the wild every five minutes! They are the most most illegally traded wild mammals on the planet. They are poached for their meat, which is eaten as a luxury dish in parts of their range, and their scales which are used in Traditional Asian Medicine.
Find out more about pangolins and the actions being taken to help them on The IUCN SSC Pangolin Specialist Group website
Pango-mom and pangopup colouring
Did you know a baby pangolin is called a pangopup! Pangopups often ride on their mothers tails.
Click on the image for a pdf to print and colour:
More pangolin colouring pages:
Visit the pangolin crafts page and get creative making pangolins in card or felt.
Rachel L Shaw 