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Ellis Abel Learns.

In my own words · Des Moines, IA

Why I love animals

An alligator moving through a brackish waterway at Kennedy Space Center, only its eyes and back above the water. Real NASA photograph used on the Ellis Abel Learns "Why I Love Animals" page — read by families in Des Moines, IA.
An alligator moving through a brackish waterway at Kennedy Space Center, only its eyes and back above the water. NASA · Public domain
  • Every one of them is built for something.
  • If I watch long enough they show me what they do.
  • They solve problems too.

You can love animals in Des Moines.

What it really is

Animals are shaped by what they need to survive where they live.

Three things to try today

  1. Watch one animal for five minutes.
  2. Write down three things it did.
  3. Say why each one helps it live.
A USGS biologist crouches among walruses hauled out on an Alaskan beach to attach a tracking radio. Real USGS photograph used on the Ellis Abel Learns "Why I Love Animals" page — read by families in Des Moines, IA.
A USGS biologist crouches among walruses hauled out on an Alaskan beach to attach a tracking radio. Ryan Kingsbery, USGS · Public domain

For the grown-up reading this

The Des Moines–West Des Moines, IA metro area has about 758,539 residents, ranking 82nd in the country. The question is not whether Des Moines, IA has children who love animals. It is whether anyone told them that counts as something.

Structure and function. Why is it shaped that way is the whole of comparative biology.

If the kid who loves this is a girl

Read what one popular teacher said to one little girl who took out the classroom trash without being asked — and what that girl did with the rest of her life.

Girls are great at math — Des Moines, IA →

Love something else too

Red leaf lettuce, mizuna mustard and green lettuce growing under pink-white LED lights in the Veggie plant growth hardware. Real NASA photograph used on the Ellis Abel Learns "Why I Love Plants" page — read by families in Des Moines, IA.Why I love plantsA pair of American bald eagles perched on the rim of their large stick nest on Kennedy Space Center property. Real NASA photograph used on the Ellis Abel Learns "Why I Love Birds" page — read by families in Des Moines, IA.Why I love birdsA blacktip reef shark swims just under the sunlit surface, above a head of coral, at Palmyra Atoll National Wildlife Refuge in the Pacific Ocean. Real USGS photograph used on the Ellis Abel Learns "Why I Love Sharks" page — read by families in Des Moines, IA.Why I love sharksAstronaut Mike Fincke reaches into the sealed Life Science Glovebox to run a biology experiment aboard the space station's Kibo module. Real NASA photograph used on the Ellis Abel Learns "Why I Love Biology" page — read by families in Des Moines, IA.Why I love living thingsA test model of the long magnetometer boom for the Europa Clipper spacecraft laid out for checkout at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. Real NASA photograph used on the Ellis Abel Learns "Why I Love Magnets" page — read by families in Des Moines, IA.Why I love magnetsTechnicians in clean-room gear install guidance, navigation and control electronics boxes into the Juno spacecraft. Real NASA photograph used on the Ellis Abel Learns "Why I Love Electronics" page — read by families in Des Moines, IA.Why I love electronicsA technician sets up wiring and monitoring equipment at Launch Pad 39A for a shuttle tanking test. Real NASA photograph used on the Ellis Abel Learns "Why I Love Electricity" page — read by families in Des Moines, IA.Why I love electricityTwo rocket engine tests fire at once on the test stands at Stennis Space Center, throwing huge white exhaust plumes into the air. Real NASA photograph used on the Ellis Abel Learns "Why I Love Energy" page — read by families in Des Moines, IA.Why I love energy

Near Des Moines

Why I love animals, everywhere in the US · All things to love · STEM jobs you could do · Summer camps in Des Moines