Hi scientist! I am Evelyn from the California Science Center
hopefully to make you feel a little less stuck at home.
Thanks for joining us this week and right now we are live.
And even though it may look like I am outside I am actually inside.
I am in the Desert Zone of our Ecosystem gallery.
Now some of you might be following our Stuck at Home Science activities.
And I hope that you are!
In this week we are having you make lots of things that move without having to touch them.
The big theme is that we're using air to make things move.
Earlier in the week we talked about how air is a thing.
It's matter, it takes up space, it has a weight and because of that
we may... can use it to make things move.
Now I want all of you scientists out there to take a really big deep breath.
And just let it out.
Now when I think of air I think of it as this thing that exists on its own,
but if we break it down air is actually made up of lots of gases
that includes nitrogen, oxygen, carbon dioxide, argon
and lots of other gases that I'm not going to talk about right now.
But when you took that breath and you can do it again if you'd like,
that air takes a pretty amazing trip through your body,
because we breathe air and we need it to function.
Now today, I have some very special guests joining us
and one of our guests uses air in a very very unique way,
so I want to pan over and turn it over
to two very special individuals here at the Science Center.
Can you introduce yourself for us?
[Viani speaking]: Yeah. Hi Evelyn. Hi scientists out there. My name is Viani .
I am one of the Terrestrial Keepers here at the California Science Center.
And today I have one of our ambassador animals, a chuckwalla here on my arm.
And just like how Evelyn said,
he does use air as a defense mechanism to protect himself from predators.
[Evelyn]: So Viani tell us a little bit more about that.
How is it that a lizard, or in this case achuckwalla, can use air to protect itself?
What does it have? How does it function for its' body?
[Viani]: Yeah, so chuckwallas, what they do when they feel threatened
or they feel that a predator is chasing them is they'll run into a rock crevice
and they'll run into that crevice take a big gulp of air in
and they'll inflate their... their bodies.
And so the air will travel to the bottom of their lungs and it will expand their ribs and their chest
and it will also expand these loose skin folds here on his side.
And so that loose skin will become taut and it will cause a wedge with the rock crevice inside.
And so the predator will have a very hard time and it'll be virtually impossible to um, get him out.
[Evelyn]: All right, so what you're saying is that if I was a chuckwalla
and I had all of these folds on my skin, I could suck in a whole lot of air,
push it into very specific pockets of my body for it to get bigger and then I'm just stuck?
Now somehow that doesn't feel like it would protect me.
So I'm stuck, but usually in my brain, being stuck isn't protecting me from predators.
So how is it that that helps protect the chuckwalla specifically?
[Viani]: Yeah, so like I said,
he'll be virtually stuck until he releases the air, until the chuckwalla decides to release the air.
And so the other thing that they'll do is they'll create a little barrier with their tail,
so they'll curve their tail in the opening of the crevice
and this will protect the chuckwalla's head and vital organs around the ribs and their belly.
And so if the predator happens to get their tail, the chuckwalla can fortunately grow it back.
And so it'll be still alive.
So yeah, it'll... it'll be able to protect itself.
[Evelyn]: Now that makes a lot more sense,
because as I look at its tail it does look like it's pretty strong
and it could fend off some predators if needed.
Now for those of you from home that can't be at the Science Center right now,
we of course want to encourage you to come.
So Viani, can you tell us a little bit about what we would see if we come and visit the Science Center?
What do we expect to see our chuckwallas doing inside of the Desert Zone?
[Viani]: Yeah, so the chuckwallas here really like to forage for their food,
so their food is scattered throughout the exhibit.
And they have different areas that they can feed on.
And then also, they like to do push ups towards guests.
So if you ever come by, to the large corral exhibit in our desert gallery,
you'll see this chuckwalla and two others, along with other spiny lizards
and they'll be running around, chasing each other
and doing natural behavior, such as push-ups and head bobbing
and so that's just a way they communicate of who's more dominant at the time.
[Evelyn]: That is so cool. Okay!
So I know that I love coming into the Desert Zone and being able to observe these different animals,
watch what they're doing, and sometimes they're just laying out on the rocks
Now right now, I love the Desert Zone because it's a little bit warmer than the rest of the Science Center.
So how is that helpful to these animals?
[Viani]: Um
[Evelyn]: How is it helpful for these animals to have nice warm rocks all around their exhibit?
[Viani]: Right, so these lizards and a lot of reptiles are ectotherms.
And so the room needs to be at a high temperature
so that they can do their bodily functions, such as metabolize their food,
digest it, and then also run around and... and catch crickets.
[Evelyn]: Very cool so I know that as a keeper, you probably get to know these animals a whole lot more.
And I know that they all have personalities of their own.
So is there there anything that you like to see this animal doing?
Anything that just feels silly overall when you are taking care of our chuckwalla?
[Viani]: Um, I think that it's funny when they do push ups towards me when I'm giving them their... their worms in the morning.
This is... I think this is a good thing, but apparently maybe they feel threatened by the worm,
so, I don't know. [Viani & Evelyn laugh]
[Evelyn]: Hopefully it's push-ups of saying 'yeah, thank you'.
And have you ever seen our chuckwalla have to use that technique of inflating itself inside of our exhibit?
[Viani]: Yeah, so sometimes when there is little scuffles between this chuckwalla or the two others
the chuckwallas will puff up and so that's just to make themselves look bigger
and as a more of like a sign of leave me alone.
Or that maybe it's a little threatened that they have this one chuckwalla going after them.
[Evelyn]: So once again, they are using air to communicate using their bodies
and let others know exactly how they're feeling, which is so amazing.
Is there anything else you want to share about the chuckwalla?
A while back I heard that lizards have three eyes. Is that true?
Do they have three eyes?
[Viani]: Um, they don't have three eyes like how we have eyes.
So what they call a 'third eye' is actually something on the top of their head
that is not an opening at all. It's just a sensory... a group of nerves
that the chuckwalla uses, and other kinds of lizards as well, to pick up environmental cues.
And so this will be changes in the climate or changes in the weather,
And it usually lets them know when it's breeding time, when rain is coming.
They also sense light.
They have other abilities to see other colors than we do, so this is what it's helpful for.
[Evelyn]: Super cool, so my scientists at home, what I want you to do is close your eyes
and wave your hand in front of your eyes
that is kind of what a chuckwalla would sense if it was using its third eye right now
so sometimes that will let them know that they need to scurry away and hide
or get away if they feel something else is happening.
Is there anything else you want to share about the chuckwalla?
[Viani]: Yeah, so they are plant eaters and so like I mentioned earlier
they have different spots that they can eat
where we provide um different salads and fruits and veggies throughout the week.
And when they're young, sometimes they hunt crickets or worms or any other kind of bug
But usually by the time they're adults then they stay strictly plant eaters.
[Evelyn]: Well, thank you Viani, we really really appreciate you joining us today.
We know that you have a very busy schedule and taking care of our animals is a really really big deal.
Before we go. Any last thing that you might want to share about our amazing chuckwallas?
[Viani]: Yeah you guys can come by and visit him and our two other chuckwallas
in the large corral exhibit in Ecosystems gallery.
You can find them, they will probably do push-ups at you because they like doing that to people.
And then you can even see some other invertebrates
in our smaller exhibit over to this side over here.
So these are insects that live in dying cactus.
Awesome! So my scientists at home,
we want to say thank you to all of you for joining us today.
Check back every Monday through Friday at 10:00 a.m. for videos and activities that you can do at home.
And we want to once again say thank you for joining us live here at the California Science Center.
Thanks and I hope you're feeling a little less stuck at home.