(Ada) We're going to the Great
Smoky Mountains National Park.
(Isabelle) The salamander
capital of the world.
(Kaylee) We went into the
woods to find salamanders...
- Oh, there's one.ÂÂ
(Kaylee) To collect some data.
(Ada) We learned so much.
- Yeah.
(cheerful music)
- Major funding for "Sci
Girls" is provided by
the National Science Foundation.
Supporting education
and research across
all fields of science
and engineering.
The National Science Foundation,
where discoveries begin.
Additional funding is
provided by the PPG Foundation
which aims to bring
color and brightness
to communities around the world.
(girls)
♪ S-C-I-G-I-R-L-S
(Izzie)
We need you!
(girls)
♪ S-C-I-G-I-R-L-S
(Izzie)
Come on!
(girls) ♪ When I need help
and I've got a question ♪
♪ There's a place I go
for inspiration ♪
♪ Got to get to the web, check
the girls' investigation ♪
♪ What girls? ♪
♪ SciGirls!
Whoo!
(girls)
♪ S-C-I-G-I-R-L-S
(Izzie)
I need you!
(girls)
♪ S-C-I-G-I-R-L-S
Come on!
♪ You've got to log on, post ♪
♪ Upload, pitch in
Yeah!
♪ Want to get inside a world
that's fascinating? ♪
♪ The time is right
'cause SciGirls are waiting ♪
(girls)
♪ S-C-I-G-I-R-L-S ♪
(Izzie)
We need you!
(girls)
♪ S-C-I-G-I-R-L-S ♪
(Izzie)
SciGirls!
[mellow music]
[seagulls chirping]
- Carrots, guacamole?
- [chuckles] Yes, please.
That's good.
[gasp] Jake, look, a turtle.
(Jake) Oh, he's so cute.
- Wow, he's so big.
- Oh, hey, I think he's hungry.
- [murmurs]
- Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa--
wait a sec, Jake.
I'm not sure turtles can eat
the same food as us.
- But look, I think
he really wants some.
- [murmurs]
- Yeah, maybe we should check
with the SciGirls first,
you know, before we invite
this turtle to our picnic.
[upbeat music]
♪
Nope. Nope.
Oh, cool.
Ooh!
Now, this could work.
♪ ♪
[laughter]
[camera shutter clicks]
♪ ♪
(Kaylee) Today, we've
been at Zoo Knoxville.
It's really fun to just
go through the zoo
with your friends and to talk
about the different kinds
of animals.
- Look at the otter.
His, like--[laughs]
His little tail.
- [laughs]
- I love snakes.
And it's so fun
to be able to hold them.
They're just so cool.
They have, like, heat vision.
And they have
all these different textures
and patterns.
(Ada) The favorite thing
I saw is the elephants.
I just love it
because they're so big,
and they're not found
in North America.
[birds chirping]
(Kaylee) I like the parakeets
because it's just
(Kaylee) I like the parakeets
because it's just
really funny, like,
when they land on you.
It kind of tickles.
My name is Kaylee,
and I'm years old.
I definitely can see myself
being a veterinarian
or working with STEM
one day in the future.
- My name is Isabelle,
and I'm years old.
- Oh, wow.
The sign says that
they are amphibians.
(Isabelle)
I think I'll definitely
go into a field of science.
I'm very interested
in microbiology.
- They don't have,
like, fins or anything.
My name is Ada.
I am years old.
- I wonder if they can see.
- That one just ran
into a wall, so...
- I've always wanted
to study veterinarian science.
♪ ♪
[camera shutter clicking]
Kaylee and Isabelle and I
all go
to the same co-op
for homeschoolers.
And we've been taking classes
for a couple of years now
together.
They're eating the hay.
Zoo Knoxville,
I've been coming
since I was, like,
a little baby.
They've changed it a lot,
like, over the years.
They've brought in
a lot of new animals.
- Oh, look at that.
Look at that.
- Oh, wow.
(Kaylee) The zoo has a new
amphibian and reptile center,
called the ARC.
And there's crocodiles
and turtles and snakes
and lots of stuff in there.
So it's really cool.
(Rachel) I'm really excited
to share this with you.
(Isabelle) Today, we met
Heather and Rachel.
They're herpetologists.
And a herpetologist
is a scientist
that studies reptiles
and amphibians.
- So one of the things, you
notice that in front of you,
you've got a pair of gloves.
Amphibians are different
from reptiles.
They actually breathe
through their skin.
So anything that we have on our
hands that is harmless to us
could actually be
really harmful to them,
things like sunscreen.
So if you want to put
your gloves on,
that's going to be the safest
way to handle the salamanders.
(Kaylee) Rachel brought in
some salamanders
that we got to get
really close to.
(Rachel) This is one that you
guys can hold if you'd like.
It is a blackchin salamander.
(Isabelle) Very wet.
- Yeah.
[laughter]
- And very slippery.
(Rachel) Yeah.
(Isabelle) He keeps trying
to crawl off my hand.
With being homeschooled,
I have done classes
here at the zoo.
It's very fun because
you get to kind of see
the behind-the-scenes stuff.
And we get to talk
to the animals sometimes.
(Rachel) And then if you look
under the chin,
you can see why
they are named like that.
And another cool thing
about this species
is that it's thought
that they are
mimicking the red-spotted newt,
which can be found
in a similar area.
But that's actually
a toxic species.
But this one isn't
actually toxic.
(Heather) With these guys,
because they breathe
through their skin,
they are considered
an indicator species
for the environment.
And so they are really good
at indicating
whether there is an issue
in the environment.
So a lot of times, people
want to know, what can I do?
Are you ladies familiar
with citizen science?
- Citizen science is
just normal people going out
- Citizen science is
just normal people going out
and taking pictures
and logging information
for scientists to use.
(Heather)
By doing citizen science,
we get an opportunity
to kind of see
what the census is today.
And then years, years,
we can look back and see
if the population
is staying the same.
Maybe we've even done
such a good job
that the population is growing
and there are more of them
than there used to be.
(Kaylee) Heather and Rachel
told us about
the Great Smoky Mountains.
And they said that
we should go there
to learn more about citizen
science involving salamanders.
(Heather) The Great Smokies
National Park
is basically in
our own backyard.
And the Smokies are
one of the best places
to study salamanders because
there is more natural variety
in species than you will find
pretty much anywhere else
in the world.
The salamander diversity in
the Smokies is just amazing.
And I would really like for
you ladies to go to the Smokies
and see what you can learn
about salamanders.
And we would love for you
to teach us some things.
- So are you guys ready
to do a citizen science project
here in the Smokies?
(girls) Yeah.
- It feels really exciting
to be able
to go and, like, find out
and collect data
about the salamanders.
♪
- My name is Isabelle,
and I'm years old.
♪ ♪
This is my dog Zoey.
She's two years old.
And she's a Great Pyrenees.
This is my dog Loki.
And we've had him
for about a year.
I live with both my parents
and my five siblings.
This is my room.
This is one of my bookshelves.
I really like to read.
I'm constantly getting
more books.
These are my art supplies.
I really love to paint.
I do time-lapses
almost every time I paint.
And I recently painted
a giant canvas,
like, almost as tall as me.
[applause]
Bye. See you next time.
[upbeat music]
♪
(Ada) I've been
to the Great Smoky Mountains
a couple times.
[laughter]
It has a lot of valleys
with a lot of creeks.
(Kaylee) Everywhere you look,
all you see
is mountains and trees.
And it's just so beautiful.
(Isabelle) The Great
Smoky Mountains National Park
is just a wonderful place
because there's so many
different species
of animals and plants
and bacteria and fungi.
And there's so many
different places to explore.
- Hi.
- Hi.
- Welcome.
(Isabelle) We met Ranger
Nicole in the park today.
(Ada) She works for the Great
Smoky Mountains National Park.
- I love it that
you guys are out here
even though it's raining.
It rains a lot out here.
We are in
a temperate rain forest.
So we get inches
of rain a year.
♪
(Isabelle) The Great Smoky
Mountains, it rains,
then it's sunny,
then it rains again.
And it's always this weird,
unpredictable mixture
of different kinds of weather.
♪
(Ada) They are called
the Great Smoky Mountains
(Ada) They are called
the Great Smoky Mountains
because mist comes up
in the morning,
and it looks like smoke.
(Nicole)
The Great Smoky Mountains is
the salamander capital
of the world.
We have at least species
of salamander that live here.
- I have lived in Tennessee
my entire life and had no idea
that we had the most
salamanders in the world--
like, the most
different species.
So that was interesting
to learn.
- What we're going
to do today,
we'll be looking at
the terrestrial salamanders
because we'll be looking
at the ones on land.
- Well, I've never, like,
caught the salamanders.
I've seen the salamanders
in the wild.
- As we are looking
for salamanders,
they have a really cool
adaptation.
You be a raccoon.
Use your little paws,
and try to catch my salamander.
[laughter]
- And the tail comes off.
- And they can drop
their tail.
So when they get spooked,
they can drop their tail.
And that will help them
to survive.
But we don't want them
to drop their tail
because this is where
they have their food storage.
So to not freak them out
is really important,
even though they have
that adaptation.
♪ ♪
Great Smoky Mountains
is half a million acres.
We do many citizen science
programs.
There are a lot of different
bio indicator species.
(Isabelle) We were examining
the salamanders
to make sure that the ecosystem
around them was healthy.
♪
(Kaylee)
We went into the woods
hoping to find salamanders.
♪ ♪
It was beautiful, but it was
just really, really cold.
[laughs]
- It was pouring
the whole time.
[laughs]
(Ada)
It was very muddy and wet.
I stepped in a lot of puddles.
(Nicole) All right,
extra puddly here.
(Isabelle) Ranger Nicole
told us that the salamanders
really like damp, cool spaces.
(Nicole) Okay, this is going
to be a team effort on a roll.
- And she kind of let us pick
out which areas to look under,
which was really fun,
because we got to kind of
lead her, almost.
- Okay, who's got the bag?
(Ada) It was just, like,
really cool,
because you don't get to go
looking for salamanders.
Since they're such
sensitive creatures,
you have to have
special permits,
have a park ranger with you.
(Kaylee)
Nicole was really helpful,
making sure that we didn't go
off too far into the woods
so that we didn't damage any
of the leaves and foliage.
So we were walking through
the woods, and we found a log.
And it was in kind of
a puddle of water.
And then we flipped it over.
- Look, there's one
right there.
- And we were like, oh,
my gosh, there's a salamander.
Like, it's actually there.
(Isabelle) Ranger Nicole
helped us observe
the salamanders safely.
Well, she told us
not to touch them
because they're very sensitive,
and they breathe
through their skin.
(Kaylee) You have to, like,
handle them
with a Ziploc bag,
in our case,
or a leaf or a stick or
something that
or a leaf or a stick or
something that
they've already had
around them
that won't hurt their skin.
- Okay, so hold him above
your head so that--
but keep him flat, yeah.
(Isabelle) Ranger Nicole was
almost as excited as us.
[laughs]
millimeters.
(Nicole) Perfect.
(Isabelle)
Seven, right at seven.
(Nicole) Seven what?
(Kaylee) Ounces?
(Isabelle) Grams.
(Nicole) Very good.
- The second salamander
was also under a log.
I was surprised
that we found two
in such a close area together.
- Where'd he go?
Where'd he go?
(Isabelle) We all
kind of worked together.
And one of us held open
the bag.
And the other, like, just
stood behind the salamander.
We're just like,
let's get it into the bag.
- Oh, oh.
- Got him.
- That's the same kind
as last time.
Oh, wait--no?
- No.
- No, it isn't.
It has red on it.
- It has red on its cheeks.
- Ooh, all right.
Let's go look
at those pictures.
- So when we found
the salamanders,
we would put them
in our Ziploc bag,
and then we would
take them back
to the identification sheet.
And we would look through
the identification sheets
and find which one best,
like, matched the salamander
that we had in our bag.
- Bluish-black?
- Yeah.
- Red, orange, or yellow cheek?
- Yeah.
- That's what it is.
- Gray or black bellies?
- Yes.
(Nicole) Very good.
That is a Jordan's redcheek.
(Isabelle)
It was millimeters.
and / grams.
- All right,
it's really coming down.
Let's get out of this rain.
[laughs]
- The salamanders love it.
[seagulls calling]
- So we learned
something new today.
It is not okay to share
your food with animals.
- Not even
your healthiest snacks.
Besides, they have their own
beach buffet right here--
algae, plants, jellyfish,
- Jellyfi--
jellyfish, over there!
- Uh-oh, that's a plastic bag.
- Oh, no.
Garbage?
- Phew, I'm so glad we found
this before the turtle did.
- Here, I always bring
my own trash bag to the beach.
[light music]
Ouch!
- This shell looks
like an ice cream cone.
[laughs]
- Yeah, or a tiny hat.
[laughs]
I'm going to clean it
and put it in my room.
- [gasp] It's a snail!
Hey, buddy.
- Oh, I'm sorry, little guy.
This is your house.
[sighs]
I'll put you right back
where I found you.
You know,
we should spread the word
about beach animal safety.
- Yeah.
What if we perform
a rock and shell concert?
♪ Shells and rocks
are homes to animals ♪
♪ So please leave them
at the beach ♪
Yow, whoo-hoo!
[seagull calling]
What if we draw a message
in the sand?
(Izzie) [sighs] Or not.
(Izzie) [sighs] Or not.
But that's it.
Let's make a big poster
so everyone will see it.
Come on.
Let's get our supplies.
We've got creatures to protect.
And these beach animals
need us.
[soft music]
♪
- Is that a spider hanging
in the middle of that?
(Isabelle)
Today, we went to a stream
in the Great Smoky Mountains
National Park
to collect data
on aquatic salamanders.
- Good morning.
So today we are going
to be collecting
aquatic salamanders
to tell us more
about the health of this creek.
- What's the difference between
terrestrial salamanders
and aquatic salamanders?
- Terrestrial salamanders
means that they spend
most of their life on land.
So they are coming in contact
with the soil.
The aquatic salamanders
are living in water.
Salamanders are one
of many species
that are bioindicators.
So the presence
of certain types
of salamanders
that are there can be
indicators of water quality.
What about them
would make it special
that they are telling us more
about the surrounding
ecosystem?
- They are very sensitive
and breathe through their skin.
So if there's any pollution
or anything, it harms them.
- Yeah.
They're really intolerant,
which means that
they can't really handle
a lot of pollution.
Seeing them is one
good indicator
that water quality is good.
[upbeat music]
♪
(Isabelle) We were looking
underneath rocks
and decaying logs
in the stream.
- So let's lift it
really gently.
(Ada) We rolled them over
so we can put it back
where we found it.
Salamanders only have
a certain amount
of distance they can remember.
And so if you move it
too far or you move them,
it's really hard for them
to get back.
- Oh, there's one.
Where'd it go?
- Whoa.
Where'd it go?
- Wow, that was really fast.
(Ada) It was a lot different
looking for them in the water
because they moved
a lot faster.
And the current, because it
is going down the mountain,
it moves the salamanders
with them.
So it's a lot harder
to catch them.
(Nicole) And those
might be better options, right,
where the water
isn't moving so quickly.
- It was very exciting
when we found two.
- Oh, we got two.
- Two.
- Can I get two in one bag?
- [laughs]
(Isabelle) We had tried to
catch both of the salamanders
at the same time,
and they just both darted
in different directions.
So it didn't exactly work out.
[laughs]
(Kaylee) They were so fast
that you would lift up a rock,
and they would just sh**t
to the next one.
And the next thing you know,
you've lost it, so...
[laughs]
- Can you see one?
- Mm-hmm.
I got him.
- Yay.
- Yay.
- We caught one little,
tiny salamander.
And so we did get
to collect some data.
- millimeters.
(Kaylee) So we were looking
at find, like,
the weight and the length...
- ..
(Kaylee) Like, the color of it
and the species.
(Kaylee) Like, the color of it
and the species.
(Isabelle)
Spotted dusky salamander.
We only had the salamanders
for as long
as it took us
to measure the data.
And that only took three
minutes, at the most.
- Perfect.
- My favorite part was probably
finding the salamanders
and then letting them go.
- There he goes.
- So Ranger Nicole, what do
we do with all of this data
that we've collected?
- The Great Smoky Mountains has
been doing salamander research
for close to years.
So a lot of that data gets
put into data servers.
And we track that data
over time.
The more people that are
collecting information,
the bigger sample size
we're having.
So it helps with
different actions
that a park might do
to either fix
or not fix something
that's happening here.
(Isabelle) Being involved in
citizen science is really cool
because I feel like
I'm contributing
to the scientific world
and really helping people
and animals.
(Nicole) Well, thank you, guys.
Good luck for your future
in science,
hopefully, or at least
in citizen science
and being a steward
of the land.
(girls) Thank you.
♪ ♪
(Kaylee)
Another thing we learned
is that it's really important
not to move the rocks,
because that's a habitat.
And if we didn't have
the salamanders,
we wouldn't know,
is this creek healthy or not?
- When you move the rocks
and don't put them back,
it, like, completely ruins
animals' homes.
♪ ♪
[camera shutter clicks]
[upbeat music]
- Hi, my name is Ada.
I am years old
and in eighth grade.
♪
I have three sheep named
Rose, Daisy, and Dandelion.
I showed the sheep last year.
I just showed Daisy because
it's a really big hassle
to show sheep because it
takes a lot of time and effort
to get them ready
for the show.
This is Fenton,
one of our cats.
I like to run.
I do AAU track
and school track.
[stopwatch ticking]
I'm pretty fast,
and I run a -meter
in about seconds.
[bell rings]
[cheers and applause]
I like winning.
- Hi.
(girls) Hi.
- Well, welcome
to Great Smokies.
I'm Becky Nichols.
I'm an entomologist
here in the park.
And we're going to go into
the natural history collection
and look at some specimens.
- Okay.
- Okay?
Come this way.
(Isabelle) Ranger Becky
is an entomologist,
and that is a scientist
who studies bugs.
♪
(Ada) Becky showed us
a bunch of species of animals
that were quite old.
(Isabelle) I was very excited
when she showed us
all of the salamanders
and frogs.
- That's--oh, my goodness.
- Oh, wow.
- That's crazy.
- We have different species
of salamanders in the park.
So you have
all the different families
So you have
all the different families
represented here,
including Cryptobranchidae,
which are the hellbenders,
the largest salamander
that we have.
- The eastern hellbender
is a salamander that lives up
in the Great Smoky Mountains.
It is one of the largest
salamanders there are.
- All right,
this is a hellbender.
(Kaylee) When was it collected?
(Becky) This is .
(girls) Wow.
(Ada) It was really fun
being able to see them
up close,
because you don't, like,
find hellbenders, like,
where we were looking for them
because it was such
a shallow creek.
- Well, we'd found that
the number of hellbenders
has gone down.
And so we do everything we can
to make sure
the water quality is good
and that there's
no disturbance
to their habitat.
- We're doing a presentation
on salamanders
at the Knoxville Zoo soon.
Do you have any advice for us?
- It's really important
that you collect the data
that you're going to be
presenting
and make sure that
it's very, very accurate.
Data that we see,
like on specimens here
in the collection,
that data could be
really important in the future.
Citizen science can be
a part of that as well.
We let the public know
what species
we're looking
for information on,
and they will make an effort
to go out and document
those species.
So good luck
on your presentation,
and have fun at the zoo.
(girls) Thank you.
[upbeat music]
- Hey, my name is Kaylee,
and I'm years old.
I live in east Tennessee,
in a really rural area.
And our trampoline
and our backyard.
I live with
my three siblings--
two brothers and one sister--
and my parents and my pets.
I have a bearded dragon
named Lava,
and I have a dog and a cat,
Lucky and Speckles.
[cat meows]
And then nine chickens--
they all have names,
but I won't say them all--
and lots of leopard geckos.
I ride horses.
And the horse I usually ride,
his name is Dakota.
It's just really fun.
I do it once a week.
Right now,
it's not competitive.
But it might be in future,
so...
[laughs]
Ready? Go.
- [screams]
- Whoo!
[laughs]
- [laughs]
(Ada) So we like coming
to Kaylee's house
because she has, like,
such an awesome backyard.
(Kaylee) My backyard
has a zip line,
and we went down that zip line
probably times today.
[light music]
(Ada) Today we are working
on a project
that we will be presenting
at the zoo.
- I had the idea
that we could do six minutes
and do three topics
and have two minutes
for each of our topics.
So the topic
of our presentation
is citizen science and how
you can be involved in it.
- We could do a slideshow.
- Okay.
Yeah, a slideshow
would be good.
- We are currently working
on a slideshow
that is talking about
citizen science.
that is talking about
citizen science.
We're focusing on
how everyone can participate
in citizen science
and especially
about salamanders.
- Isabelle, these are,
like, really good drawings.
- We made bookmarks
to go with our presentation.
And I did the drawings
and helped
with the writing part.
[upbeat music]
♪
The most challenging part
was trying to, like,
coordinate who would do this
and who would do that.
Citizen science is when--
(Kaylee) I think we've got it
all figured out,
like, what we're going to say
and the slideshow
that we're going to make
and all of that stuff.
So I'm excited.
(Ada) I am really excited
for presenting it
'cause we've learned so much
and, like,
just being able to share that
with everyone.
- Okay, now all I think we have
to do is just print these out,
and then we'll be ready
for our presentation tomorrow.
- Yeah.
- Yeah.
- How about a high five?
- Wait.
- No--
[laughter]
- Yes, we're finished!
[upbeat music]
(Kaylee)
Today we're at the zoo.
And we're going to give
a presentation
on citizen science
and salamanders
to our families and friends.
We have been working with
the Great Smoky Mountains
National Park
and Zoo Knoxville.
- I feel like we worked
as a team really well.
Like, we helped each other out.
Make observations to help
researchers collect data.
- I learned that
there's a lot more
different types of salamanders
than I ever knew about.
- We also made some bookmarks
which remind you
how to safely collect
observations.
- I'm really looking forward
to seeing
what my own kids are interested
in doing with citizen science.
- More about salamanders
and, um--
It was really fun
presenting to everyone.
With Heather and Rachel there,
it just felt really special,
just them teaching us
everything and then, like,
showing up just, like,
to see what we've learned.
(Kaylee) I think Heather
and Rachel really liked it.
I think they thought
we did a great job.
(Heather) You guys learned
some stuff this week.
I'm really proud of you.
(Rachel) I think there
were a couple of times
that you guys answered
questions, like,
exactly how we would have
answered them.
And I think
that's just reflecting
just how much you guys learned.
- [laughs]
We've definitely had
some great mentors this week.
Orangey-brown.
(Ada) It's amazing seeing
all the rangers
and zookeepers' work,
and, like,
maybe I could do it too.
(Isabelle) I learned that
everybody from all age groups
can do citizen science.
And just whenever you find
something amazing in nature,
you can just put it out there
and help researchers.
(Kaylee) Being able
to just go behind the scenes
of the zoo
and the Great Smoky Mountains,
that was something
that I think
I'm going to remember
for a long time.
And I'm just really glad
I got to do it.
- Jake, our sign's working.
Everyone's leaving the shells
where they found them
and putting their garbage away.
[light music]
[seagull chirps]
- And no one is feeding
the animals,
even if they're asking for it.
[laughter]
- Good landing.
[laughter]
- Okay, you ready to go
in the water?
- Let's go.
- Welcome
to the Indiana Dunes...
- National Park.
- You got this, Saloni!
- You got this, Saloni!
(Desi) We actually have
a project called
the Dragonfly Mercury Project.
(Logan) Oh, I got a bug.
- Logan's got one.
- Oh, this is cool.
(girls) Welcome to Seward!
(Evie) We're surrounded by
water and mountains.
- Y'all want to head out there?
- Sure.
- Yeah, let's go.
(Gracie) I'm really excited
to do some citizen science.
(Indigo) We saw lots of
different shells and plants.
- Whoa! [laughs]
(cheerful music)
- Major funding for "Sci
Girls" is provided by
the National Science Foundation.
Supporting education
and research across
all fields of science
and engineering.
The National Science Foundation,
where discoveries begin.
Additional funding is
provided by the PPG Foundation
which aims to bring
color and brightness
to communities around the world.
[upbeat music]
♪
(announcer) There's more fun
on the SciGirls website.
(girls)
♪ S-C-I-G-I-R-L-S
07x02 - Salamander Tales
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Each episode depicts the STEM-themed activities of a group of middle-school girls including engineering a mini-wind farm, creating a turtle habitat, designing an electronic dress, and more.
Each episode depicts the STEM-themed activities of a group of middle-school girls including engineering a mini-wind farm, creating a turtle habitat, designing an electronic dress, and more.