Coniferous Forests

    "THE FEAR OF THE LORD IS THE BEGINNING OF THE KNOWLEDGE" 

                                                                  Proverbs 1:7

CONIFEROUS FORESTS:

                                          Coniferous forests cover about a tenth of the of the world’s land. In the far north, they form a vast ring around the Tundra and North Pole. Conifer trees are often cone-shaped. This let’s snow slide easily off the branches.

 

FOREST GIANTS: 

                             Giant redwoods can live for thousands of years and their cones can take 20 years or more to mature.

 

CROSSBILL:

                     Most birds wait for pine cones to fall before eating the seeds, but the crossbill can prise open a conifer’s cones with its cross-tipped beak. It is also known as cone specialist.

 

PORCUPINE:

                       The North American porcupine is one of the few animals that can eat pine needles. It is also good at climbing the trees.

 

MOOSE:

               One of the largest coniferous forests residents is the moose. All moose have a flap of skin, a bell, hanging from the throat. Only the males have antlers.

 

PINS AND NEEDLES:

                                    Conifers have needle -shaped leaves that stay on all year. Instead of growing flowers and fruits, they produce cones. A cone’s scales close in wet weather but open when it’s dry, releasing the seeds.

 

WOLVES AND WOLVERINES:

                                                  Larger predators such as wolves and wolverines are not often spotted in the wild. Thick fur allows them to survive the chilly winters of a coniferous forests. Wolverines are also known as gluttons because of large appetites.

 

 

WATER BABIES:

                           In summer-time, moose love to wade into lakes and ponds to feed on aquatic plants and to escape the clouds of biting flies that suck their blood.

 

 

What is the world’s biggest deer?

                                                   The moose (called the elk in Europe)