Introducing: Horseshoe Crabs in the Classroom, Take 2


During the 2011/2012 school year, we had a program called Horseshoe Crabs in the Classroom at our elementary school. This program is offered through the Maryland Department of Natural Resources and it's a great idea for a number of reasons - letting kids learn about these incredible pre-dinosaur animals while, maybe, helping add a few more of these amazing animals to the Chesapeake Bay.

Last year, we ended up with no live horseshoe crabs (HSC) and I think this was because of over-zealousness on my part for ridding the aquarium of an unwanted fungus or at least what I thought was fungus. The 4th graders, though, were very enthusiastic and they learned a lot about the critters even though they never saw a live one in their classroom. Sigh.

This year, though, now that the teacher (me) is a bit more experienced, I think we'll have better luck. So here's Take 2...

Thursday, October 4, 2012

1

I haven't added to the blog lately because I wasn't seeing anything moving in the tank. However! The news is that tonight I can see 1 (one) tiny horseshoe crab moving on the bottom of the tank. One. There used to be lots and lots of them. Now only one. Kind of depressing because it's the same thing that happened last year. What is it about early August and this house that does them in????? I would take a photo but I don't want to risk killing it. I'm going to name her Hermione. It's a bit tough to name 70 but with only one, I don't think I'll run the risk of calling her by the wrong name.

Meanwhile, our contact at the MD Dept of Natural Resources posted a youtube video of what her tank looks like. She's probably got 300 little critters on the bottom of her tank. If I can figure out how to embed that from youtube, I will post it here. The only difference between her tank and mine is that if you took out all but one horseshoe crab, it would look exactly like mine.

Gallows humor.
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