Alpha wanted to give you a sneak preview of our next illustrated book.
"Bobby Bee's Big Adventure" Bobby Bee will have to find his friend Ben after he gets separated from the bee colony.
Be sure and subscribe to Alpha's blog and you'll know first when new material is released!! Oh yeah, Don't forget to join Alpha's ABC's on Facebook! https://www.facebook.com/alphasabcs
It's
a really cool way to learn your ABC's and these guys are demonstrating
each one of the alphabets from A to Z. George Gorilla, Henry Hippo and
friends will see you there. Oh yeah, remember to subscribe to the
channel and share it with your friends.
One more thing guys, Mango would like you to join Alpha's on Facebook!! Click the Like button on our Facebook page & we'll send you some cool e stuff!! https://www.facebook.com/alphasabcs
Alpha & his friends would like to invite you to join them on Facebook. And Alpha says if you like them there and click the like button we'll send you some cool characters color pages by email or we'll post them on your Facebook wall if you want. Anyway there's a lot of good information for you there and we would really love to have you join us!! Here's the link .
It's close to Halloween you guys. And we all know what that means! Well yeah, usually lots of candy but also lots of cool costumes, you know like ghost and witch G's. Okay this might be the first time you've seen a G dressed for Halloween, but hey that's what we do at Alpha's!! And this is even a friendly G! He's giving George a ride. We'll be introducing more of these cool characters for Halloween, Thanksgiving and Christmas!! Heck we'll probably even have some new looks for Easter next year. So you guys be sure and subscribe to our blog page here and you'll always be up to speed on what we're doing!.
In the mean time let's check in with George & friends on our Alphabet Video!!
What's that you say? Paco's got some interesting Pelican facts for us?
Okay, let's see what he's got!!
There are more than half a dozen species of pelicans, but all of them
have the famous throat pouch for which the birds are best known. These
large birds use their elastic pouches to catch fish, though different
species use it in different ways.
Many pelicans fish by swimming
in cooperative groups. They may form a line or a "U" shape and drive
fish into shallow water by beating their wings on the surface. When fish
congregate in the shallows, the pelicans simply scoop them up. The
brown pelican, on the other hand, dives on fish (usually a type of
herring called menhaden) from above and snares them in its bill.
Pelicans do not store fish in their pouch, but simply use it to catch
them and then tip it back to drain out water and swallow the fish
immediately. The American white pelican can hold some 3 gallons of water in its bill. Young pelicans feed by sticking their
bills into their parents' throats to retrieve food.
Pelicans are
found on many of the world's coastlines and also along lakes and rivers.
They are social birds and typically travel in flocks, often strung out
in a line. They also breed in groups called colonies, which typically
gather on islands.
Well, that was pretty interesting stuff there Mr Paco Pelican!!!!
Hey Kid's Here's a few more of Alpha's characters in this video
A zoo favorite of adults and children alike, the ostrich is truly an
interesting animal. From its large size to its odd feathers, this
flightless giant is unlike any other. An African native, the ostrich is
the sole surviving member of its biological family.
The ostrich is the world's largest living bird. The average adult male
is between 8 and 10 feet tall and weighs in at over 250 pounds. The vast
majority of the bird's body weight is encapsulated in its long and powerful
legs. A single ostrich stride will carry the bird 12 to 15 feet.
Ostriches are able to achieve speeds greater than 40 miles per hour when
running and they are able to maintain that speed for more than 30
minutes at a time. Unlike other birds, the ostrich has only two toes.
This adaptation reduces the drag coefficient of the limb, enabling the
bird to attain greater speeds than many of its predators. Also, each toe
ends in a sharp, formidable claw and each leg is capable of kicking
with enough force to crush a skull.
The ostrich is a member of an ancient bird family called the ratite. One
of the distinguishing characteristics of this group of birds is
although they have wings, they cannot fly. The wings of the ostrich are
used for balance instead. It extends its wings when running and then, if
the bird suddenly needs to change directions, the wings act as a
rudder, helping to smoothly steer the bird along a different route and
possibly evade predators. The wings are also used in mating rituals and
courtship displays. A domineering bird will raise its wings while a
subservient one will allow its wings to sag.
Ostrich feathers are not like ordinary bird feathers. The individual
fibers hang loose, rather than sticking together. The feathers of the male ostrich are generally
black with white showing on the tips of the wings. The male uses this
vivid color scheme to attract the attention of passing females. Holding
the wings as wide as possible, a male will approach a female, stamping
his large feet as he goes in hopes of impressing the light-brown lady.
If he manages to gain her approval, the two birds will mate.
The ostrich has a well-developed sense of sight and eyes that are almost as big as baseballs. The eye
orbs are large and so important to the bird's survival, that the
majority of the skull is used to house
and protect them. Accordingly, the brain is a good deal smaller than
either one of the eyeballs. This may explain why the ostrich is so
easily trapped by predators; it can run fast, but it can't think on its
feet.
Okay everyone, you can see Ozzy Ostrich & his friends here in our Children's Alphabet Video
The Nutria (Myocastor coypus) is a rodent native to
South America, and was introduced to Europe, Asia, and the US for fur
farming. When the fur market crashed in the US (1940s) many were
released in the wild.
Adults are smaller than a beaver, but larger than a muskrat. They are
about 14 inches long with a round hairless tail almost as long as their
body or longer (12 to 17 inches). Nutria usually have dark brown fur.
They have 4 inch long whiskers and large incisors that are yellow-orange
to orange-red. Nutria average 16 to 18 pounds, but sometimes reach a
weight of 25 pounds.
Nutria are vegetarians and consume almost 25% of their weight daily.
Their favorite foods include: rushes, reeds, cattails, arrowhead,
square-stem spike rush, and sawgrass. They eat sugarcane, alfalfa, corn,
and rice if they can get them.
Nutria are semi-aquatic and spend most of their time in or near the
water. Nutria burrows often have entrances underwater. Nutria may use
elevated, platforms of dead vegetation instead of a burrow, or may nest
in dense vegetation.
One male usually has a "harem" of 2 to 3 females. Female nutria only
produce 6 litters of young in their lifetime. Litters average 4 to 5
young. The teats on a female nutria are high on the sides so young
nutria can nurse as the mother swims.
Fun Nutria Facts
- Nutria have 3 sets of fur: primary and secondary guard hairs, and under fur.
- Nutria are also called coypu, coypu rat, nutria rat, and swamp beaver.
- Nutria have valves in their mouths and noses that close so water doesn’t get in.
- At birth young nutria are fully furred.
You guys can see Nally & her friends here on our Alpha's Children's Alphabet Song Video!! Have Fun Learning Today!!!
The Monkey is an animal that is found in almost every
country of the world, though its species differ from one region to the
other. Monkeys can be classified into either of the two groups - New
World Monkeys and Old World Monkeys, two of the three groupings of
simian primates. The monkeys found in Africa, central to southern Asia,
Japan and India are classified as Old World monkeys, while those found
in Mexico and Central and South America can be grouped as New World
monkeys. The differences between the two groups of monkeys manifest
themselves in the form of varying physical traits. Read on further to
get some interesting facts and amazing information on monkeys.
Monkeys never catch cold.
Yawning of a monkey means that either he is tired or he is mad at something.
Monkeys never eat a banana as it is; rather they peel it first and throw away the peel.
Howler monkeys are the loudest monkeys and their howl can be heard as far as 10 miles away.
Monkeys live in groups, known as troops, and travel together to find food.
The tip of a spider monkey's tail can support the weight of his entire body.
Monkeys live in trees, grasslands, mountains, forests and on high plains.
Monkeys can breed at any time of the year.
Spider-monkeys have appeared in more films than any other breed of monkey.
Most of the monkeys are arboreal, while some are also terrestrial.
Monkeys use vocalizations, facial expressions and body movements to communicate.
Grinning or pulling the lip is a sign of
aggression in monkeys, along with head bobbing and jerking the head and
shoulders forward.
Monkeys express affection and make peace with others by grooming each other.
Some of the monkeys have prehensile tails, which can grab and hold objects.
See Mango and His Friends Here In Alpha's Children's Alphabet Video
For all of their roaring, growling, and just sounding ferocious, lions are family animals and truly social in their own communities. They usually live in groups of 15 or more animals called prides. Prides can be as small as 3 or as large as 40 lions. In a pride, lions hunt prey, raise cubs, and defend their territory together. In prides the females do most of the hunting and cub rearing. Usually all the female lions in the pride are related, mothers, daughters, grandmothers, and sisters. Many of the females in the pride give birth at about the same time. A cub may nurse from other females as well as its mother.
Each pride generally will have no more than two adult males. While the females usually live with the pride for life, the males often stay for only two to four years. After that they go off on their own or are evicted by other males who take over the pride.
When a new male becomes part of the pride it is not unusual for him to kill all the cubs, ensuring that all future cubs will have his genes. The main job of males in the pride is defending the pride's territory.
A male's loud roar, usually heard after sunset, can carry for as far as five miles. The roar warns off intruders and helps round up stray members of the pride. Hunting generally is done in the dark by the lionesses. They often hunt in groups of two or three, using teamwork to stalk, surround, and kill their prey. Lionesses aren't the most successful of hunters, because they usually score only one kill out of several tries. After the kill the males usually eat first, lionesses next and the cubs get what's left.
Males and females fiercely defend against any outside lions that attempt to join their pride. Maybe in this case the family that preys together stays together!
Hey Gang, Alpha's Freddy Frog and all his friends would like to thank everyone for the response to Alpha's "Children's Alphabet Song Video"
The video was posted on August 26th 2011 and we already have over 8000 views and lots of really great comments and reviews from our viewers!! Thanks for your support everyone and we look forward to communicating with you about our new content soon to be released.
Featured Character Today Oct 13 2011 "Kenny Kangaroo" Kenny has provided us with a few interesting Kangaroo facts:
A kangaroo is any of several large macropods, (the marsupial family) that also includes the wallabies, tree kangaroos, wallaroos, pademelons and the quokka. About 45 species in all. The term kangaroo is sometimes used in a broader sense to refer to all members of the macropod family. Kangaroos are native to the continent of Australia, while a number of tree kangaroos are found in New Guinea.
The word kangaroo is said to derive from the Guugu Yimidhirr (an Australian Aboriginallanguage) word gangurru, referring to the Grey Kangaroo. The name was first recorded as kangaru by Joseph Banks on James Cook's first voyage of exploration, when they were beached at the mouth of the Endeavour River in the harbour of modern Cooktown for almost 7 weeks repairing their ship which had been damaged on the Great Barrier Reef. Kangaroo soon became adopted into standard English where it has
come to mean any member of the family of kangaroos and wallabies. The
belief that it means "I don't understand" is a popular myth that is also applied to any number of other Aboriginal sounding Australian words. Male kangaroos are called bucks, boomers or jacks; females are does, flyers, or jills and the young are joeys. The collective noun for kangaroos is a mob
Wow! That's pretty interesting stuff!! Okay everyone, have fun learning today and check out kenny & Alpha's friends here on this video!!Subscribe free to the channel. http://www.youtube.com/user/AlphasABCs?feature=mhee
Alpha's
ABC's Games eBook edition is now available at Amazon! This eBook is
exactly the same as the very first physical book released in 2007.
Inside there is a different animal character to represent each letter of
the alphabet. These are all color pages and the really cool bonus
inside the book is the brief description of each animal in both Spanish
& English language. Children absolutely love this material as seen
in the library video at our youtube channel. Here's the link to the eBook: http://www.amazon.com/Alphas-ABCs-Games-ebook/dp/B001AA1D82
Alpha's"Joshua Jay Bird" Featured character Oct 12th 2011 Interesting Jay Bird facts:
Jay Bird is actually a nickname for the Blue Jay. These guys are natural forest dwellers, but they are also highly
adaptable and very smart birds. They are a familiar and noisy presence
around many North American bird feeders. The blue jay's "Jay! Jay!" call
is only one of a wide variety of sounds the bird makes including
excellent imitations of several hawk calls.
Blue jays are
sometimes known to eat eggs or nestlings, and it is this practice that
has tarnished their reputation. In fact, they are largely vegetarian
birds. Mostly their diet is composed of acorns, nuts, and seeds, though
they also eat small creatures such as caterpillars, grasshoppers, and
beetles. Blue jays sometimes store acorns in the ground and may fail to
retrieve them, thus aiding the spread of forests.
Common in much
of eastern and central North America, blue jays are gradually extending
their range to the Northwest. They are fairly social and are typically
found in pairs or in family groups or small flocks. Most northern birds
head south for the winter and join in large flocks of up to 250 birds to
make the long journey. However, this migration is a bit of a mystery to
scientists. Some birds winter in all parts of the blue jay's range, and
some individual birds may migrate one year and not the next. It is
unclear what factors determine whether each blue jay or family decides
to migrate.
Okay here's a quiz test for you.
What is the one thing that makes birds different from any other animal?
Feathers!
That's right!. Birds are the only animals that have feathers.
Feathers do many jobs for
birds. Soft down keeps them warm, wing feathers allow flight and
tail feathers are used for steering.
This book features many of Alpha's very popular animal characters demonstrating each letter of the alphabet. There is also a short description of each character in both English & Spanish language! Kid's really love to learn this way as they can custom color the characters also!
Visit our Facebook site to see more about our characters. Click the Like button there and we'll send you some cool character & alphabet color pages via PDF. https://www.facebook.com/alphasabcs
Happy October 11th 2011 !! Alpha's Featured Character: "Iggy Iguana"
A few interesting Iguana facts
Green Iguanas, also known as the most common Iguana are among the largest lizards in the
Americas. Fully grown they average about 6.5 feet and weigh about
11 pounds.
They are also among the most popular
reptile pets in the United States, even though they are very difficult to care
for properly. In fact, most captive iguanas die within the first year,
and many are either turned loose by their owners or given to reptile
rescue groups.
The green iguana’s extensive range comprises the
rain forests of northern Mexico, Central America, the Caribbean Islands,
and southern Brazil. They spend most of their lives in the canopy,
descending only infrequently to mate, lay eggs, or change trees.
Iguanas are active during the day, feeding on leaves,
flowers, and fruit. They generally live near water and are excellent
swimmers. If threatened, they will leap from a branch, often from great
heights, and escape with a splash to the water below. They are also
tough enough to land on solid ground from as high as 40 feet
and survive.
The Iguana's strong build gives them a clumsy look, but
they are very fast and agile on land. They have strong jaws with razor-sharp
teeth and sharp tails, which make up half their body length and can be
used as whips to drive off predators. They can also detach their tails
if caught and will grow another without permanent damage.
Other
members of the iguana family include the Fiji Island banded iguana, the
desert iguana, and the Galápagos Islands marine iguana. Although they are called "green" iguanas, these
lizards are sometimes found other shades and colors besides green
including blue, orange, and purple. The color of their skin acts as
camouflage allowing them to blend into the landscape. An iguana's skin
is tough and waterproof.
Okay boys & girls, have fun learning today & remember you can see Iggy and his friends here on this cool Alpha's alphabet video on our Youtube channel!!!
The Hippopotamus is found in Africa. The
name hippopotamus means ‘river horse’ and is often shortened to hippo.
The hippopotamus is generally considered as the third largest land
mammal (after the White rhinoceros and elephant). Hippo's spend a large amount of time in water such as rivers, lakes and swamps. Resting in the water helps keep their body temperature down. Hippopotamuses actually give birth to their young in the water. These guys are known for their short legs, a huge mouth and a body shaped like a barrel. Although hippo's might look a little chubby, they can very easily outrun a human! Wow, that's fast! They
can be extremely aggressive, especially if they feel threatened.
Hippos are generally thought of as one of the most dangerous animals in
Africa.
The male hippopotamus is called a ‘bull’, the female is called a cow and the babies are known as the calf.
A group of hippos in known as a ‘herd’, ‘pod’, ‘dale’ or ‘bloat’.
Hippo's typically live for around 45 years and they mostly eat grass.
Oh
yeah, I almost forgot: George reminded me to have you subscribe to our
youtube channel where you can see this video and be updated when we
post new ones! Here's the link to it: http://www.youtube.com/user/trisley7?feature=mhsn
You guys can also check us out on Facebook! DJ Dog has that link for you!
DJ
says: click the Like Button on our Facebook page and we'll send you a
bunch of free stuff!! You know like, cool animal color pages you can
print out and custom color!
Thanks Everyone and "Have Fun Learning Today" "It's nice to be important but it's really important to be nice"
