Savvy Cafe Answers » Sirena Van Schaik

What do wolves eat?

Sirena Van Schaik — Mon, 22 Sep 2008 06:00:48 +0000

If you remember a few months ago, we answered a question on “where do wolves live.” That answer led to more questions about the life of wolves and we thought we would answer one of those questions today. If you do have more questions about wolves, feel free to email us your question or to post it here and we will try to post new answers as the questions arise.

So with that little introduction, let’s look at what wolves eat.

Before I get into the actual diet of a wolf, it is important to note that wolves are carnivores, meat is their primary food source but they have been known to eat some berries and even insects like grasshoppers or even earthworms.

Since wolves rely on fresh meat as their food supply, the actual food that they eat depends on a number of things; their environment, the prey that is available in their environment and the season. If the herd has migrated to an area where the wolves are not, the pack will find other means to feed themselves.

Wolves, like dogs, can eat several times in a day, usually every 5 hours or so but generally, food is not plentiful enough for that type of feeding behavior so wolves are able to live without food for several weeks.

When it comes to hunting, wolves hunt in packs and will often single out old, sick or young animals to attack. This is beneficial to both the pack and the herd since the animals that are weakened by age or sickness are less likely to injure a wolf and the wolves keep the herd healthy and strong by removing the diseased members.

Since wolves hunt in packs, they are able to take down large game and will often hunt deer, moose and other large game. When large game is not readily available or the pack is too small to successfully kill one, wolves will survive on mice, birds, fish and the berries and insects that I have already mentioned.

A wolf’s digestive system is very efficient and it will digest 95% of the meat swallowed. Any bone splinters or undigested food will be wrapped inside the hair the wolf swallowed and will prevent the intestines from becoming damaged as the bone passes out of the body.

Young wolves are nursed by their dam (mother) until they are old enough to eat food. When they are, adult wolves will take the food back to the den and regurgitate it for the young. As they grow, the adult wolves will begin to take pieces of the kill back to the den for the pups.

Photo Credit

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What did A.E Housman write?

Sirena Van Schaik — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 01:56:13 +0000

A.E. Housman was born in Fockbury, which is a hamlet in Worcestershire, England. His full name was Alfred Edward Housman and he lived from March 26, 1859 to April 30, 1936. He was a well-known poet and his poems were more lyrical than anything else.

He was also a private scholar and is believed to be one of the “greatest scholars of the time.”

His most famous work is the A Shropshire Lad, which is a cycle of his poems printed in 1896. He is also went on to publish Last Poems in 1922. He has several lectures including “Swinburne” (1910), “The Application of Thought to Textual Criticism” (1921), “The Name and Nature of Poetry” (1933) and several others.

For more information on A.E. Housman, I would recommend visiting this site.

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In what year did the Vietnam War end?

Sirena Van Schaik — Mon, 08 Sep 2008 06:00:07 +0000

When I first learned about the Vietnam War, I was always surprised with how long it lasted and the fact that it had only ended a year and a half before my birth. For some reason, I always believed it was a war that didn’t go on during the time of any of my siblings but sadly that wasn’t the case.

Now, even though I have shared this little insight into my childhood, I should mention the real reason why you are reading this blog post. The Vietnam War ended in 1975 and to be more exact, the last American Soldiers were removed from Saigon at 8:35am on April 30, 1975. The war had ended and the American force was no longer present in the country.

Throughout the war, which spanned from 1959 to 1975, over 58,000 people were killed and over 300,000 were injured in the American Forces alone. The total for Cambodia and the Lao is between 1.5 to 2 million casualties and the Vietnamese saw between 4 to 5 million casualties.

For more information on the Vietnam war, I would strongly recommend these two sites; VietnamWar.com and The Vietnam War.

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What Kind of Dog was Laika?

Sirena Van Schaik — Thu, 04 Sep 2008 01:18:14 +0000

If you are looking for a specific breed for the dog Laika, you won’t find one. For those of you who are aware of the dog, you’ll know that she was the first living creature to be sent into space aboard the Russian spacecraft Sputnik 2. The momentous flight was launched November 3, 1957 with Laika only surviving for a few hours in space, although this time span is debated and many claim she lived for several days.

Laika is actually a Russian word for “dog” and it generally refers to any breed that is similar to the husky. Laika, the dog, was believed to be a mongrel that may have been a cross between a husky and possibly a terrier breed, although any number of Nordic breeds could have contributed to the dog’s lineage.

Lakia was originally named Kudryavka and she had many nicknames over the course of her training. Although Laika died during the flight, her remains burning up in the atmosphere on April 14, 1958, the memory of that sweet little dog ignited a debate over the treatment of animals in the race for science.

Today, Lakia is remember in many places including literature and songs and the little monument found in Russia of a little dog perched atop a rocket.

Photo Credit: http://www.zarya.info/Diaries/Sputnik/Sputnik2.php

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What does WD-40 stand for?

Sirena Van Schaik — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 01:09:44 +0000

I’m not sure about you but I have several cans of WD-40, it is amazing stuff and I have used it for many things; although it has mostly been used with my key hole, which has the misfortune of being completely exposed by the elements and a strong blowing wind almost daily.

For those who aren’t sure, WD-40 is a spray oil that is used as a lubricant, a cleaner and for anti-corrosion. It was invented in 1953 and became available for households across the country in 1958. The inventor of WD-40 was Norm Larson (1923-1970).

WD-40, which is also the trademarked name, stands for water displacement, which is a way to prevent corrosion. The 40 stands simply for the 40th solution (or attempt). This means Norm Larson created 39 other failures before success.

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What does REM stand for?

Sirena Van Schaik — Mon, 18 Aug 2008 21:22:14 +0000

Although there are many meanings for the acronym REM, the most common definition is Rapid Eye Movement. This is the part of sleep where it is believed dreams occur and could be the reason why the band REM chose this acronym as their name.

Other meanings of REM are:

Remark
Range Extension Modes
Radioactivity Environmental Monitoring
Random Effects Model
Rapid Evaluation Method
Range Encryption Module
Ready to Eat Meal
Range Equipment Manual
Real Estate Magazine
Reference Earth Model
Refocusing Mechanism
Remote
Resource Efficiency Management
Retention of Employment Models
Risk Enterprise Management
Rear Electronics Module
Remote Equipment Module

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What were Paul Bunyan’s dogs named?

Sirena Van Schaik — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 13:49:03 +0000

Before I get into who the dogs are, I think I should just touch on who Paul Bunyan was. If you don’t already know this, Paul Bunyan was not a real person. He is actually an American myth or folklore. Paul Bunyan was a lumberjack that was a brave and strong man.

Now whether or not the original Paul Bunyan had a dog is up for debate since there have been some changes to the actual myth. Originally, Paul Bunyan had an blue ox named “Babe,” which was supposed to be the only thing he feared. Warner Brothers adapted the story of Paul Bunyan for their Bugs Bunny show in 1954. In the cartoon, Paul Bunyan had a carrot patch that was guarded by his dog, who was named Smidgen.

The only other reference to a dog and Paul Bunyan can be traced to Sport, the reversible dog, which wasn’t Paul Bunyan’s dog but was a camp dog.

For more information on Paul Bunyan, I would strongly recommend this site.

Who is Clement Hurd? Clement G. Hurd was an American illustrator of children’s books....

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What day of the week were you born?

Sirena Van Schaik — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 01:24:28 +0000

Well, if you are asking specifically what day of the week I was born, it was a Monday. I actually wasn’t sure the exact day so I had to do a little research. If you are like me, you can always find out the day of week you were born at this site. They have calendars for every year up to 3000 and back to 1582.

Now more than likely, the question relates to the old nursery song, “Monday’s Child.” In this song, it lists each day of the week along with a fortune for that day.

There are actually two different versions of the nursery song. The first version is

“Monday’s child is fair of face.

Tuesday’s child is full of grace.

Wednesday’s child is loving and giving.

Thursday’s child works hard for a living.

Friday’s child is full of woe.

Saturday’s child has far to go.

But the child that is born on Sabbath-day

Is bonny and happy and wise and gay.”

The second version is slightly different with a few days being reversed and is believed to be the revised version with the song above being the original. Friday and Wednesday were reversed, as well as Thursday and Saturday. Sunday’s child still remained bonny and gay but he also became blithe and good.

“Monday’s child is fair of face.

Tuesday’s child is full of grace.

Wednesday’s child is full of woe.

Thursday’s child has far to go.

Friday’s child is loving and giving.

Saturday’s child works hard for a living.

But the child that is born on Sabbath-day

Is bonny and blithe and good and gay.”

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What was a person’s soul called in Egypt?

Sirena Van Schaik — Mon, 28 Jul 2008 06:35:30 +0000

When I was first out of high school, I became enthralled with the world of Ancient Egypt, or rather, I became enthralled with their language. This urged me to purchase and read the entire Book of the Dead and somewhere along the way, I quickly lost my interest in it. This isn’t to say that I didn’t find it interesting but I probably shouldn’t have read that specific book at so early a stage.

Fast forward several years and I have the delight of having a son that aspires to be an archaeologist and specifically wants to work in either an Ancient Mayan or Ancient Egyptian site. This led to the renewal of my interest in Ancient Egypt so I was very happy to have the opportunity to answer this question for you.

To get down to business, Ancient Egyptians did not have a universal word for soul as a whole. In their culture, they believed that the soul consisted of several different parts, or more specifically of 5 parts.

All of these represented some part of the person or the person’s soul. These parts are:

The “Ka”: Most people are aware of this word but for those who aren’t, the “Ka” is basically the life force of the person. It was believed that the “Ka” was formed at birth but continued to live on after death. It was the force that could restore life to the dead body and was the ultimate reason for food offerings being left in the tombs.
The “Ba”: This may be what we equate as the soul since it was the part of the soul that made the journey back to its body on a nightly basis. If the “Ba” did not reunite with the “Ka”, then the body could not survive.
The “Akh”: The “Akh” was considered to be the spirit of the person. It was believed that this part of the soul could influence the world in both good and bad ways.
The “Ren”: This is the person’s name, which was believed to be a living part of a person.
The “Shewt”: Like a person’s name, a person’s shadow was also believed to be a living part of a person. Both the “Ren” and “Shewt” were believed to live on after the person had died.

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What did the Haida make their paints out of?

Sirena Van Schaik — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 01:35:03 +0000

Growing up in British Columbia, I always had an interest in Haida art and that spark was nurtured during a school visit to the UBC Museum where I saw many different examples of Haida art that was absolutely breathtaking. For me, that art represented what it meant to be from the Northwest coast and there was so much beauty in each carving and work of art that I looked at.

But that isn’t what the question is about so I should get down to the answer. Haida used many different materials to create their paint and all of them were from nature. Generally, the Haida mixed a naturally occurring pigment with a binder. This was a substance, like chewed salmon eggs, that gave the pigment a paint like quality. Here are a few naturally occurring pigments that gave the chewed salmon eggs its color.

Black: Bone that has been burned to charcoal or magnetite, which is an iron ore.
Blue/Green: Celadonate or Glauconite. This was also known as “green earth,” which is very rare.
Red: comes from an iron ore called hematite.

For more information on Haida Art, visit The Respect to Bill Reid Pole Project

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