Over the past few weeks as I am nearing the end of my project, I have came across a problem. How do I get more people to view my blog and get my findings out there? I decided to join the Google Plus world to try and get some more people to view my research. On Google Plus I joined the community called Animal Planet. I joined this group because out of all the other groups to share my findings with this one was broad and I could post about whatever research I came across, unlike the other communities like Cute Animal Pictures.
My first post on the community was a success to me because I received nine more views in just one day. My post was over how the moose is a very interesting specimen, which I believe taught people something that they possible didn't know about the moose. I plan to keep posting into the community to hopefully teach people things that they didn't know about the animals I have been researching. My next post I plan to talk about the bear and how they can only digest some plants because their stomach is elongated which they have evolved to have over the years of foraging for food.
Below is a link to my research that I keep on Creaza.

 http://www.creaza.com/athens/HLYgvv3hf3

Throughout my "final project" I have come across more topics that I need to research to get a better understanding of. For example the only thing I knew about the moose was that it had four stomachs and that it re-chews its food. I then researched how the food actually goes through the moose and found that the food goes through the first two stomachs after being slightly chewed, then after the moose has had its share of food and is full it will spit the food back up to re-chew it, which it then goes into the last two stomachs before being digested and released as waste.

This process is the same for the mountain goat as well. Although, while I was researching the mountain goat I found that this form of digestion helps keep the animal safe from predators. The goat will retreat into the mountains because the digestion takes a while and the animal is safer in the rocky cliffs to continue the process compared to being exposed to predators while trying to re-chew the curd.
I have only just recently finished my slide of herbivores on my "final project" and I am now starting to do the carnivores category. I will inform you guys later on what new information I come across.

Pictured here is a basic diagram of the Moose's digestive tract

Research is a funny thing. Sometimes you just dread the work but, once you're done you feel like you never have enough. Anyways, I believe I have finished my research. With the researching done for the most part, I can continue to look into ways to present my information and findings. The tool I think that I'm going to use is Prezi. Although I am still open to suggestions since I have only just recently tried this tool out. I am going to try to organize my information into both a food web and demonstrate the digestive tracts of the animals.
Planning for your final project can be very different from the actual outcome of what you thought. Which is why I still have an open mind to what my final project will look like. Who knows, it might even just turn out to be a poster. Which might be easier for me to have for future references when I'm in college studying animal biology or zoology. I will update when I actually pick a tool for my final presentation.

Below is a tutorial of the tool Prezi

Albert Einstein once said that, "If we knew what we were doing it wouldn't be called research, would it?" Throughout my research process I find myself getting lost at points. However, I figured out that research can be very confusing and that I need to keep calm and not get frustrated when I cannot find specific information. So far, I have accomplished researching the herbivores category on the digestive system. The animals I placed in that category include the moose, rabbit, and the mountain goat.

While researching I came across some very interesting and new information for each of these animals. For example, I learned that the moose's digestive tract is very similar to that of our own domestic cattle. The moose has four parts to its stomach, which after eating the moose will spit the food in its stomach back up to its mouth where it will be re-chewed to be digested completely.

Another thing I uncovered, was that the rabbit digestive tract separates the plant fiber in its system in to two groups, digestible and indigestible. The digestive fiber may release some nutrients and some may be reabsorbed into the body, the rest have to go back into the colon to be coated into a protective layer of mucus which is later released from the body as a special kind of waste called cecotropes or cecal droppings. The rabbit eats these droppings so they pass through the digestive tract again, after this process the small intestine can easily absorb the nutrients. While the indigestible fiber is still essential for the digestive system it takes food through the system and is later released as waste.

Finally, I research the mountain goat. I did not get that far, however. What I did learn was that the mountain goat has four stomachs because the mountain goat is prey to predators the goat will retreat into the mountains before continuing digesting the food it has just swallowed. Which the goat re-chews like the moose and the cattle. I will continue researching the digestive tract of the mountain goat then I will hopefully move on to my predator category.
Located below is a picture of a Rabbit digestive system and a video to further explain the process.

Hello outside world! I see you are searching the internet and surfed your way right up to my blog. Let me tell you what this particular blog is about. This blog is about my passion project, which I will be creating for the next couple of months. My passion project is over the digestive tracts of animals that I put in a food web. Sounds confusing, right? Wrong, It's actually quiet simple. All I have to do is pick an environment that I like, such as the Rocky Mountains, then I pick what animals I would like to research from the carnivores, herbivores, and the omnivores category. After I complete the selection of animals that I will be using then I will start to research those animals digestive tracks.

The reason I picked this project out of a sea of others is that I have a love for everything with animals and I plan to eventually become an animal biologist or something else that deals with animals.

As I continue to do my research for animals and their digestive tracks I have to make sure I am using reliable websites. Which means no Wikipedia. To make sure I am using the best of the best I have to look at the website title itself. This means that, if there is an .gov, .org, or .edu then the site is probably reliable but you should still skim through it to double check. Some of the current websites I have used for my research are mostly consisting of National Geographic.
Some of the websites I have researched are posted below:
http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/mammals/wolf/

http://www.nps.gov/yell/learn/nature/bearfoods.htm

How do you keep track of your websites Sierra? Well that's easy, I just use Creaza. Creaza is a board that allows you to write down on all of your thoughts and keep track of your websites you are working with. However, I am pretty new with this tool and I am still learning all the stuff you can do with it. I will keep in touch with how the research is going. Until next time my fellow viewers.