Pictures to Color during Conference

Jesus at the Sea of Galilee with a fishing boat

I am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints.  Today and tomorrow is our General Conference.  As I was watching the first session of LDS General Conference just now, one of our General Authorities was just speaking and I realized I needed to serve.  You see, Elder Pinegar said that we all have ways we were foreordained to serve our fellow men.  He pointed out that serving others is how we are most fulfilled in life.  And that those who live only for themselves shrivel up. 

Well, I realized that this coloring pages blog is one of the ways I can serve.  There are lots of things I can no longer do.  I have severe life threatening health problems. so I can't teach school full time anymore, nor can I help at the Church Welfare Farm.  There are many many things you can't do to serve others when you are saddled with severe health problems.  But drawing these picture is one way I can serve.  True it can still be very painful if I draw or type for very long, but drawing pictures and writing about them is one way I can serve.  SO.. with that in mind, I am posting another picture of Jesus that I did last week.  I also want to let you know that if you click on the above button "Free Printable Downloads" you can find many pictures to color.  If you are LDS or just religious, there are many Old Testament, New Testament, and Restoration of the Gospel drawings that you or and your kids could color. 

Here are a few examples of drawings you can find in the "Free Printable Downloads". 

Jesus Calling his Apostles by the Sea of Galilee

Mary and Baby Jesus

Jesus and Joseph working in Carpentry Shop

Heleman leads the Young Ammonite Warriors

Jesus as as a 12 Year Old at the Temple

Jesus with a Welcoming gesture

Joseph Smith's First Vision

Jesus Ascending into Heaven

Temple with Family

Moses with the Ten Commandments

Joseph Smith Translates the Golden Plates

Together in the Celestial Kingdom

NOTE:  There are many more drawings found in the Free Printable Downloads.  If you want to read what I said about each drawing then you just scroll down and hit the "Older Posts" button. You will have to scroll down and hit that button many times to see some of the older drawings and what I wrote about the drawing.  

Star Trek Vulcan Members of Starfleet

I had a drawing lesson while in Wyoming.  The lesson was from my niece H.J. who is an 11th grader.
She has a unique style of drawing people so I paid attention.

Star Trek is a groundbreaking TV and movie series.  It had the first African American woman in a vital role as an officer.  Lt. Uhura was the communications officer of the Starship Enterprise.  Nichelle Nichols, who played Uhura did not like the role.  She was invited to meet Martin Luther King, the great civil rights leader.  He told her that Star Trek was the only show he let his kids stay up late to watch.  Nichols said, "Well, I'm going to quit the show."  Dr. King told her, "You can't do that.  This is the only show that shows our people in a leadership role, as an officer."  Nichols did not quit.  Another interesting story is that Whoopi Gooldberg tells is that when she was a little girl and she saw Star Trek on for the first time.  .  .  she went running through the house shouting, "Mamma, Mamma, there's a black woman on TV and she aint no miad!"  Prior to Star Trek all African American actors were relegated to servant roles.  Lt. Uhura as a Starfleet officer was a big deal!

I would never make it as a Vulcan.  Vulcans are from the planet Vulcan and strive to always be non-emotional and purely logical.  The part I really like about Vulcans is that they are very smart.  Spock in the original Star Trek series is Science Officer.  .   .  and I've always loved science! 

The first drawing is by by niece, H.J.  I added the background of the Planet Vulcan. 

Female Vulcan Starfleet Officer by H.J. 

Female Vulcan Starfleet Officer by Robin Lyman

This second drawing is by me.  It is a Vulcan Starfleet Officer on the bridge of a 

Galaxy Class Starship.  

Pronghorn Antelope

Pronghorn Antelope

Although not a true antelope like those found in Africa, the Pronghorn Antelope of the American West is often called an "antelope."  They fill the same ecological niche as the antelope of the old world because of parallel evolution.  Pronghorn Antelope are actually closely related to giraffes.

Antelope looking for a place to go under the fence. 

We are visiting family in Wyoming, USA.  A couple of times yesterday, a pronghorn crossed the road in front of us.  We pulled over and watched them walk along the barbed wire fence until they found a spot to crawl under the fence.  

Pronghorn can run 55 miles per hour.  That would be 88.5 kilometers per hour.  They are a beautiful hoofed animal with white and orangish tan fur.  There used to be 12 species of "antelope" in North America during the Pleistocene age but only the Pronghorn Antelope survived to modern times.  

The scientific name for Pronghorn Antelope is Antilocapra americana.  I took the below picture of a taxidermy antelope at the "Buffalo Bill Museum" in Cody, Wyoming.  I based my drawing on this photo.  You can use it to get the correct colors for the antelope drawing when you color it.  Or color it any way you want.

Antelope at Buffalo Bill Museum

Six Kingdoms of Life

Kingdoms of Life

K = Kingdom

There are 6 Kingdoms of Life 

There used to be 5 Kingdoms.

K. Monera was divided into 2 kingdoms:

     K. Archaebacteria is single cell organisms     that live in extreme environments.  They have 
    no nuclei.  They live in extreme temperatures like in hot springs, geysers, and even glaciers.

    K. Eubacteria is single cell organisms that live in more normal environments... like on your 
    skin, in yogurt, even in your gut.  Only 1/2 of 1% of Eubacteria are the kind of bacteria that can make you sick.  Antibiotics kill bacteria. 

     Both forms of bacteria reproduce by binary fission...they split or divide in half. 

K. Protista has single cell organisms and multicellular organisms.  Single cell Protists are like 
paramecium and amoeba...both are found in pond water and some are plankton.  Protista has cells with a nucleus in each cell. 

Multicellular protists are plant-like things like kelp (seaweed).  K. Protista reproduces by mitosis.
  Mitosis is how cells with a nucleus divide to reproduce.  

K. Fungi is multicellular organisms that often  live on dead and decaying matter.  They often have 
many nuclei in each cell.  They include:  mushrooms, toadstools, mildew, and some can be infections 
like athlete's foot.  Fungi have long thin hypha.  Think "refrigerator surprise." Fungi reproduce by
 spores.  

K. Plantae is plants.  Plants make their own food by photosynthesis using chlorophyll, sunlight, water,
 & carbon dioxide.  In photosynthesis the plant cells take in carbon dioxide and give off oxygen.  Little
 green organelles called chloroplasts, inside plant cells, are where photosynthesis takes place.  So
 plants don't need to eat.  Plant cells have one nucleus in each cell.  Plants do not have a brain and 
nervous system nor a muscular system so plants can't move about independently.  Most plants 
reproduce by sexual reproduction (pollen cells fertilize the eggs found in the flowers).  
Examples of plants are trees, grass, bushes, herbs or weeds, and flowers.  

K. Animalia is the animals.  Animals need to eat.  They also need to drink water.  Animals DO have
 a brain, nervous system & a muscular system so most animals CAN move about independently. 
 Animals take in oxygen and give off carbon dioxide.  Most animals reproduce by sexual reproduction,
 so it takes both a male and female to create offspring.  Animal cells have one nucleus in each cell. 
 Examples of members of K. Animalia are fish, mammals, reptiles, amphibians, etc.  Humans are
 members of  K. Animalia. 

Here is an easy way to look at this information:  

The above "6 Kingdoms Study Guide" vsiual aide is available to print on Free Printable Downloads . . .

 the top button on this blog. 

Supersaurus one of the Longest Dinosaurs

Supersaurus

Supersaurus was one of the longest animals ever to live.  The current estimate is that they grew to be up to 138 feet, about 42 meters, long.  The Supersaurus display located at the Museum of Ancient Life in Lehi, Utah is 120 feet or 37 meters long.  A somewhat smaller Supersaurus is located in the Wyoming Dinosaur Center, a museum in Thermopolis, Wyoming.  Supersarus is a member of the Doplodocid group of Sauropods.

The best known member of the Diplodocid group of Sauropod dinosaurs is Diplodocus, discovered in Dinosaur Mountain near Grand Junction, Colorado.  It was about 80 feet or 24 meters long.  These animals were all very thin compared to other types of Sauropods.  They were more gracile.  Even though they were  at least 80 feet long the Diplodocus weighed only 15 tons.  On the other hand, Supersaurus is longer and heavier with an estimated weight of 35-40 tons.

The Doplodocids were also very long with a very whip-like tail.  It has been calculated that they could crack their tail like a bullwhip and this may have allowed it to break the sound barrier that would have made a sonic boom of at least 200 decimals.  This very loud sound may have been used to drive off predators or even to attract mates.  Several of these big Sauropods cracking their tail in the direction of an approaching Theropod like Allosaurus would undoubtedly have given the predators a severe headache.  At the very least the loud sound would have ruptured the Theropod's eardrum.

Diplodocids ate leaves, probably from both ground cover ferns and leaves & conifer needles high up in trees.  Grass had not yet evolved 150 million years ago, when Diplodocids lived, but there were lots of ferns probably covering the ground in some places.  With their very long necks Diplodocids could probably sweep from side to side to act kind of like a giant lawnmower... except there was no lawn, just ferns.

Some paleontologists have thought that perhaps Diplodocids could reach up even higher into trees by standing on their back legs.

Diplodocus on Hind Legs feeding on Cycad Tree

Notice that I did not draw the spikes on this one.  The spikes on the neck and back and part of the tail would have been most likely for defense.  It would be more difficult for a predatory Theropod to bite through an armored neck because they would get a mouthful of spikes.  

Apatosaurus

Apatosaurs was not a Diplodcid and you can see it had a heavier built form.  The Apatosaurs may also have been able to crack their tail like a whip.   I should also point out that if a large Sauropod managed to hit a predatory Theropod with their long tail the damage would be extensive.  In fact, Allosaurs have been found with cracked ribs.  .   .  possibly from an encounter with a long Sauropod tail.  If you think of the mass of a Sauropod tail then you realize that being hit with it would be like getting hit by a fully loaded semi truck.   

Apatosaurus Cracking the Tail like a Whip 

Dichotomous Key for Some Members of the Cat Family

The following dichotomous key is to be used with the listed cats.  It is to teach the skill of reading a basic dichotomous key.  Illustrations of the cat are at the bottom of the page.  The printable form of this page can be found by clicking on the button labeled "Science Readings and Worksheets."  If you have looked at this post before, thank you.  I have now improved the post.  There are now worksheets and printable illustrations.

Dichotomous Key For Some Members of the Cat Family

1A Has spots..................................................................................Go to 3

1B Does not have spots.............................................................Go to 2

2A Has stripes.................................................................................Go to 5

2B Does not have stripes............................................................Go to 6

3A Small cat w/ tufts of hair @ tips of pointed ears, very short         tail................................................................................................Lynx rufus

3B Larger cat w/  rounded ears................................................Go to 4

4A Heavily built cat, spots in groups of 3-4……Panthera pardus

4B Lighter built cat w/ spots not in groups…...Acinonyx jubatus

5A Heavily built large cat w/ black stripes……….Panthera tigris 

5B Small cat, yellow stripes, often a pet............Felis domesticus 

6A Large cat w/ hairy mane & tuft of hair at end of tail...........................................................................................Panthera leo

6B Tawny color, w/ no mane, black spot @ end of tail, BYU & Washington State University mascot…………............Puma concolor 

The animals' names are their scientific names or their Genus and species names.  The common names are:  

         Cougar, Bengal Tiger, Domestic Cat, Cheetah,
         Bobcat, African Lion, and Leopard.  

I will soon be posting the worksheets versions.  There are two pages and they are printable worksheets.  Click on the button up top that is labeled:  "Science Readings and Worksheets."

Dichotomous Key for Some Members of the Cat Family worksheet

Dichotomous Key for Some Members of the Cat Family illustrations

Below are the original illustrations that include these animals.  They can be found, in printable form, by clicking on the correct button up at the top of the blog page.  Then scroll down to find the correct title.  These drawings COULD be used as illustrations in a lesson on how to use a dichotomous key.   There is more than one for some of the animals.  You COULD print these drawings and have the students sort the drawings... and then have the students use the key to identify each cat in the drawings.  

Leopard in a Tree

Click on "Animals."  This is the only new drawing here.

Daniel in the Lion's Den

Click on "Religious."

Lion laying down with the Lamb

Click on "Religious."

Lion Family

Click on "Animals."

Fairy Arly with Bobcat Friend

Click on "Fantasy, Myths, and Circus."

Cheetahs stalking Topis

Click on "Animals." or "Religious."

Tiger in the Jungle

Click on "Animals."

Pipes as an Adult Cat

Click on "Animals."

Cougar by a Pine Tree

Click on "Animals."

Mountain Lion Walking

Click on "Animals."

Jaguar, attacking a Caiman

This big cat is not in the key, but I included it in case a teacher (or parent) 

wants to use it as another illustration in your lesson.  

Three Nephite Disciples in a den of Jaguars
These cats are not in the dichotomous key either, 
but students COULD be given this drawing and try to see if it is a Leopard.  
Hint:  You have to look at the spots.  
The spots are similar, but still different in Leopards and Jaguars. 

Army of Heleman or Young Ammonite Warriors

(Drawing coming shortly.  It is drawn, I just have to scan it and upload it to this blog site.)

Heleman Leads the Young Ammonite Warriors

The Book of Mormon tells the story of these Ammonite Warriors.  Their fathers converted to Christ and then took an oath to never kill again.   Some of these fathers, rather than shed blood, let their enemies attack and kill them.  So some of these young men were probably raised without fathers.  Their mothers taught them the Gospel of Jesus Christ and so these young men had great faith.

When faced with battle they had incredible faith and stood firm against older, more experienced warriors.  At one point every one of them was wounded, but none ever died in battle.  All returned to their families after the war.

This story can be found in the Book of Mormon in Alma chapter 53 and chapters 56-58.



Note:  This is one of my Sunday drawings done in church...to keep me awake and to keep my ADHD brain focused ...I pay better attention to the talks if I am drawing.  It is not a perfect drawing but it is from one of my favorite scriptural stories.  I lived in Guatemala as a kid.  I started first grade there.  I have some Guatemalan / Mayan cloth so I tried to make the pattern on the soldier's cloaks to look like the Mayan patterns I have seen.

Herbivorous Dinosaur Diets

Drawings coming in an hour or so...still drawing three of them right now......

Dinosaurs ate grass!  This is a rather new discovery since for years we have thought that grass did not evolve until the very end of the Cretaceous Period or the  beginning of the Tertiary Period...around 65 million years ago or so.  But this is now old science because when new discoveries change so does the science!  Fairly new research has determined that grass was around 125 million years ago.   This was detremined by studying dinosaur coprolite.  Coporlite is fossilized dung.  It was discovered that Titanosaur dung, from India had evidence of 5 different species of grass.  This means that grass had not only already evolved, but it had started to diversify into several different species.

There was also evidence of broadleaf flowering plants in the dung, along with conifers  and palms.   So this Titanosaur ate lots of different things including grass.  Grass was not the majority of its diet but it was there.

Bruhathkayosaurus Feeding on Palm Leaves

So this drawing is of the Indian Titanosaur, Bruhathkayosaurs, that is very controversial.  It was identified by a tibia (lower leg bone) and a partial vertebrae.  But those fossilized bones were lost in monsoon flooding.  Bruhathkayosaurus may have been as heavy as 242.5 tons or 220 metric tonnes...and as long as 144 feet or 44 meters.   These estimates are very controversial and since the fossilized bones are lost the species existence is subject to doubt by most in the scientific community.  Because of this many paleontologists give the title of biggest dinosaur to Patagotitan.  We have over 200 fossilized bones of Patagotitan and they are of 6 different individual dinosaurs.  In the above drawing notice that Bruhathkayosaurus would have probably been taller than the trees so it may have had to lower its head to browse on palm leaves.  Remember that it also would have grazed on grass sometimes as well.

In any case, if Bruhathkayosaurus was the source of the fossilized dung or coprolite mentioned in the first paragraph then it was clearly eating palm tree fronds, conifer needles, and 5 kinds of grass.
So later dinosaurs, like the duckbill dinosaurs called Hadrosaurs may also have eaten grass.  Animals that ate or eat grass are called grazers.  Horses are also grazers.

The Hadrosaur Corythosaurus Eating Grasses

So far scientists have found that duckbilled dino coprolites contain shrub or tree leaves and surprisingly, wood.  So like mule deer, they may have eaten bark off of trees or even chewed on rotting branches.  So, dinosaurs also ate wood!   Well, at least some of them did.  Animals that ate or eat shrubs and tree leaves are called browsers.  Deer are also browsers.

Maiasaura feeding on Wood

So apparently some dinosaurs were both browsers and grazers.  The discovery of grass' appearance at a much earlier date than previously thought tells us that maybe many dinosaurs of the Jurassic and Cretaceous Periods were both browsers and grazers.  It was previously thought that Ceratopsian dinosaurs were just browsers but this new evidence points to these horned dinosaurs also being grazers.  

Triceratops Grazing

Smilodon Saber Tooth Cats

Click on the "Free Printable Downloads" button above and scroll down to see the titles of many drawings that you can print in order to color.

Smilodon fatalis on Cliff

Smilodon was one of the Genus of saber tooth cat.  Sometimes they are called "saber tooth tigers" but saber tooth cat is more correct.  There were many species of saber tooth cat.  Some were as small as a modern bobcat.  Others, like Smilodon, were  bigger than a modern tiger.  Smilodon lived in both North and South America.   They lived from 2.5 million years ago to just 10,000 million years ago.
Smilodon fatalis is from N. America.  Over many millions of years there were several different saber tooth cats.  The others were smaller than any of the Smilodon species.

Smilodon fatalis

Smilodon fatalis skeleton is pictured here.  This specimen is found at the Museum of Ancient Life at Thanksgiving Point in Lehi, Utah, USA.  Smilodon fatalis weighed up to 620 lbs. or 280 kg.  The biggest Smilodon species was found in South America.  It is called Smilodon populator.  It had a weight of up to 880 lbs or 400 kg.  This makes it the largest cat ever known.  To compare it consider that the modern Siberian tiger weighs 675 lbs or 306 kg.  By the way, the smallest Smilodon was Smilodon gracilis. It weighed 220 lbs or 100 kg.   In fact, the two larger species of Smilodon may have evolved from S. gracilis.  

Here is an older drawing of a close up of Smilodon fatalis.

Smilodon fatalis detailed coloring page

And here is a drawing I did in color several years ago.  It is also Smilodon fatalis.

Smilodon fatalis 
Drawn in pastel chalk and Prisma color pencils

    Classification of the Genus: Smilodon would involve three classification charts.  

Smallest Smilodon species               Medium Smilodon species               Largest Smilodon species

Kingdom:  Animalia                            Kingdom:  Animalia                          Kingdom:  Animalia

Phylum:  Chordata                               Phylum:  Chordata                            Pylum:  Chordata

Class:  Mammalia                                Class:  Mammalia                             Class:  Mammalia

Order:  Carnivora                                 Order:  Carnivora                             Order:  Carnivora

Family:  Felidae                                   Family:  Felidae                                Family:  Felidae

Genus:  Smilodon                                 Genus:  Smilodon                              Genus:  Smilodon

species:  gracilis                                   species:  fatalis                                 species:  populator

Notice that these three animals are classified exactly the same until the species level of classification.

Classification basics

The following are classification pages all about  levels of classification:  Life, Domain, Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus, and species.  These pages are particularly about the classification of animals.

I should note that I have said little about the Domain level of classification of Life.  During my years as a Science Teacher I focused on the levels starting at "Kingdom, Phylum, Class, Order, Family, Genus, and species.

I drew small and simple drawings to illustrate the article which I wrote.  In my many years as a Science Teacher I found that illustrations, even simple drawings, can be very useful in clarifying concepts.
These pages would be best read by printing them by clicking on the "Free Printable Downloads" button at the top of the screen.