Northeast Florida Threatened and Endangered Animals

Northeast Florida Threatened and Endangered Animals

Sea Turtles (Endangered and Threatened) Sea turtles live in the ocean and make their nests mostly along Florida s coastlines. Sea turtles are very good swimmers and can stay underwater for up to 5 hours! They do not have teeth but use their powerful jaws to eat shellfish, sea grass, jellyfish, and shrimp. Some sea turtles have been known to have lived at least 100 years or more!

Wood Storks are large birds that live in woody marshes. They build their nests high in the trees. They have white feathers all over, but the tips of their wings are black. Their heads and necks have no feathers so they can hunt for fish, frogs, or bugs in muddy pools and wet grasses without getting messy! Wood Stork (Endangered)

These are their two blowholes that they spout water out of when they come up for air! Right Whale (Endangered) Right Whales can grow up to 50 feet long. Although Right Whales are very big, they eat small squid, fish, and krill. You can find these whales swimming alone or in pairs along the entire Florida Coast. They need protection from hunting to save them from extinction.

Least Tern (Threatened) A Least Tern is a small bird with a black-tipped yellow beak, white-feathered body, a black head, and a split tail. The Least Terns build their nests in the sand, so sometimes the nests can get washed away by the ocean or disturbed by people. They live around the sandy and pebbly beaches of oceans or sandbars.

The Eastern Indigo Snake is not poisonous, but can hiss and try to look awful scary! These bright purple snakes like to live safe from the cold in winter in empty tree stumps where it stays warm. Each snake can have a territory of 370 acres or more! They eat bugs, frogs, lizards, mice, and other small creatures. They are threatened because their homes in the woods are disappearing when the trees are cut down and the land is cleared. Eastern Indigo Snake (Threatened)

American Alligator (Threatened) The American Alligator is cold-blooded, covered in scales, and can crush things with its jaws using 3 tons of pressure! Alligators have a third eyelid that is clear so they can see under water. They have 80 teeth and eat fish, birds, snakes, and mammals. You can tell them apart from crocodiles because alligator noses are much wider and shorter.

The Piping Plover is a small bird with a sand-colored head, a black ring around its neck, a white chest, and a short orange beak with a black tip. Plovers usually lay four tiny eggs in a nest lined with pebbles and shells. Because these eggs are so small they are very hard to see, and sometimes get buried or stepped on by people. Piping Plover (Threatened)

West Indian Manatee (Endangered) West Indian Manatees are also called Sea Cows. You can find these mammals in Florida s rivers and streams, springs, and coastal waters. Because they breathe air like people, they need to swim close to the surface. When they come up for air they can get hit by careless boaters or become tangled in garbage thrown into the water.

NELP Word Search Find the words from the list below. Words will be hidden forward, backward, vertically, and diagonally. E I Y T E W K I S D E P V D A E K R R O E Y R E O I N E E L S R A R O E T R I P S N P O L N R R N S T E A I L E I T S I L U I B S G I N N T L E N P G B L I G N O G R A A N W E E A M L I A H P G E R I M O M C T I A D F L T R I L E H O N I O T N M O D H W T D S T D O E R E I V M T N S H R N Y S R S T O E P R A A A A A O I T I T E R C T T O L M L H L E O V E N V I R C L E A S T T E R N O N M S E A T U R T L E E K E N T B L O W H O L E A D I R O L F ALLIGATOR COASTLINE FLORIDA LANDFILL MANATEE RIGHT WHALE TERRITORY BLOWHOLE ENDANGERED INDIGO SNAKE LEAST TERN MARSH PIPING SEA TURTLE THREATENED BURROW ENVIRONMENT KRILL MAMMAL PLOVER SPECIES WOOD STORK EXTRA CHALLENGE! After you have found all the words, use the remaining letters in order from left to right, top to bottom to reveal NELP s secret environmental message!! **Answer to the Extra Challenge can be found on the inside of the front cover!**

EARTH DAY fun with rhyming words! The Purist by Ogden Nash I give you now Professor Twist, A conscientious scientist, Trustees exclaimed, He never bungles! And sent him off to distant jungles. Camped on a tropic riverside, One day he missed his loving bride. She had, the guide informed him later, Been eaten by an alligator. Professor Twist could not but smile. You mean, he said, a crocodile.