nPostednon June 11, 2016
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| The Great Barrier Reef from space |
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nThenGreat Barrier Reef is a gorgeous place, by some definitions thenlargest living thing on Earth, visible, even, from space! Thousandsnand thousands of different sorts of species – from dolphins andndugongs to fish and sea snakes, from sea turtles and sea grasses tonmollusks and crocodiles, from sponges and anemones to sea stars andnseaweeds, and of course thousands of corals – live on the reef.
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nItndoes not seem like it would be difficult to discover such a hugenthing – and it seems like the discovery would be a fun andnbeautiful thing.
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nBut…
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nThenGreat Barrier Reef is located off the coast of Australia, a placenvery far from and indeed not yet discovered by European explorers.nAnd the discovery wasn’t so much of a “Oh, look! How beautiful isnthat!” as it was a “Oh, no! What did we runninto???”
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Onnthis date in 1770, English explorer and naval officer Captain JamesnCook “discovered” the Great Barrier Reef the hard way – bynrunning his ship The Endeavor aground on it!
Onnthis date in 1770, English explorer and naval officer Captain JamesnCook “discovered” the Great Barrier Reef the hard way – bynrunning his ship The Endeavor aground on it!n
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nOncenyour ship is aground, it’s not so easy to fix the problem. n
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nAfternbeing stuck for an entire day, Cook and his crew finally freed theirnship by throwing overboard 50 TONS of stuff. Then they still had tonrepair the damage. And only then could they get back to followingntheir super secret orders: to search for a major southern continentnand claim it for England.
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nAncouple of months later, Cook would discover and explore Australia andnNew Zealand. Even though the former is considered a southernncontinent, it wasn’t the huge landmass that so many people thoughtnMUST exist to balance out the Earth. (Have you ever noticed thatnthere is way more land in the Northern Hemisphere than in thenSouthern?)
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nNow,nwhat about that reef?
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nHerenare some of the kinds of species that live on or near the reef:
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ndugongs
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n30 species of whales and dolphins
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nsaltwaterncrocodiles
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n17nspecies of sea snakes
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n6nspecies of sea turtles
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n7nspecies of frogs
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n125 species of sharks/stingrays/skates
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n49nspecies of pipefish
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n9nspecies of seahorses
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nmore than 1,500 other species of fish
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n215 species of birds
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n5 species of marine spiders
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nmore than 20 species of marine insects
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nmore than 5,000 species of mollusks, including octopi and squids
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nmore than 630 species of sea stars and sea urchins
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nabout 1,300 species of shrimp, crabs, and krill
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nmore than 100 species of jellyfish
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n40 species of sea anemones
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nabout 720 species of sea squirts – or ascidians
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nmore than 300 species of “moss animals” – or bryozoans
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nmore than 400 species of corals
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nabout 500 species of worms
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nabout 1,500 species of sponges
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n15 species of seagrasses
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nabout 500 species of seaweeds
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nAlsonon this date:
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National Yarn Bombing Dayn
National Yarn Bombing Dayn
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nOceanographernJacques Cousteau’s birthday
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nAnniversarynof the death of philosopher / teacher / writer Roger Bacon
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nCornnon the Cob Day
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nKamehamehanDay in Hawaii
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nAnniversarynof the premiere of the movie E.T.
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nPlannahead:
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Checknout my Pinterest boards for:
Checknout my Pinterest boards for:
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nJunen holidays
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nJunen birthdays
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nHistoricaln anniversaries in June
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nAndnhere are my Pinterest boards for:
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nJulyn holidays
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nJulyn birthdays
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nHistoricaln anniversaries in July
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