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In warm, shallow seas around the world, tiny creatures called corals are hard at work. They’re growing stony “skel-etons” around their bodies. Year after year, these skele-tons pile up upon themselves, forming underwater wonder-lands known as coral reefs.

Corals have been creating reefs for millions of years. But today, corals are having trouble surviving. And as the corals die, the reefs they build begin to disappear. That has happened in many parts of

the Florida Keys (see map on page 33). The good news is that people are trying to bring the corals back to health. Dive into the next few pages to find out how some teens are helping one kind of coral in particular: staghorn.

by Gerry Bishop; photos by Tom and Therisa Stack

Vultures keep circling over our yard. How can I get them to go away? Rosemary H., Georgia

The vultures are no threat to you or anyone else. So there’s no need to send them away. Vultures spend much of the day soaring high in the sky, riding on currents of warm air that rise from the ground. The birds are looking—or sniff-ing—for dead animals below. They come down when one of them zeroes in on something tasty. (And that does not mean you!) In fact, by scarfing up dead animals, vultures help keep our planet clean. You might call them the original recyclers—to be warmly greeted wherever you see them, not shooed off!

My little spitz seems to have a different bark for almost every-thing she hears or sees. Why?

Marion W., Minnesota

For starters, the spitz is a breed that tends to bark a lot. It’s part of your dog’s personality: energetic and easily excited. It’s impossible to tell exactly what your dog is thinking. But dogs do have different kinds of barks for the different ways they feel about things. And they use those barks to express their feelings to you and to other dogs. For instance, your dog may hear a loud truck and think it sounds like an attacker. She then barks out a warning: “There’s something danger-ous here!” A passing car might sound less threat-ening. So she might just let out a few sharp alarm barks as if to say, “Check this out!” Other kinds of barks may simply show excitement, such as, “Look, look—a squirrel!” And some may express feelings of anxiety or boredom. If your dog’s barking bothers you, you could talk to a dog trainer about ways to lessen the habit. Do insects have noses? Bailey H., North Carolina

No, they don’t. But some do have snouts, beaks, and pointed mouthparts that look a bit like noses. So how do insects breathe and smell? They breathe through spiracles (SPEER-uh-kulz), which are tiny holes on the sides of their bodies. (You might check these out with a magnifying glass sometime.) And they smell with their antennas!

Rangers: Have a puzzling nature question that you can’t find an answer for? Send it to Ranger Rick; Dept. ARR; 11100 Wildlife Center Dr.; Reston, VA 20190-5362. E-mail: rick@nwf.org

DAVID FLEETHAM/TOM STACK & ASSOCIATESART BY DEBBIE PALEN

Ask Rick

Some kids in Florida go to great depths to help endangered corals!

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FIRST STEPS: Teen volun-teers glue tiny pieces of staghorn coral to concrete bases and leave them to grow in a “nursery” on a

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sandy sea bottom (photo 1). After the corals become larger, the teens dive back down, remove the corals (2), and clean the bases (3).

• Orlando

MAP: The underwater nursery is on Molasses Reef in the Florida Keys.

• Miami

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too. Without the staghorns, the reefs of the Florida Keys just aren’t the same. And that’s where scientist Ken Nedimyer comes in. He’s in charge of the Coral Restora-tion Project. His goal is to do everything possible to restore, or bring back, the Florida reefs to the way they once were.

A SMALL BEGINNING For Ken, reef restoration starts small—with tiny pieces of healthy staghorn coral. Ken and his team of helpers keep the pieces of coral in aquariums, glued to concrete bases, until they grow larger. Then they take them to an underwater “nursery” on a patch of sand at a place called Molasses Reef. Here, the staghorns are “planted” and left to grow.

CAN WE SAVE THE STAGS? Not long ago, the coral reefs in the Florida Keys were healthy and growing. They provided homes for thousands of species of fish and other underwater creatures. And people came from all over the country to snorkel and deep-sea dive here. Among the most common corals were the staghorns. Staghorns look a little like deer antlers. (Male deer are called “stags.”) Their branching shape makes them one of the most interesting of all corals. But now, most of the stag-horns are gone. Many were wiped out by a hurricane back in 1960, and others were killed by disease and pollution. Rising sea temperatures due to global warming have affected them,

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Special thanks to Ken Nedimyer, who leads the Coral Reef Restoration Project.

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After the staghorns get a good start, Ken and his team trans-plant them to nearby coral reefs that no longer have staghorns.

TEENS KEEN TO HELP Ken couldn’t do this job without lots of help from vol-unteers—including students at nearby Upper Keys High School. “These kids are the greatest,” Ken says. “If the project is suc-cessful, it will be mostly be-cause of them.” Teens from Upper Keys began helping Ken in 2006 and are still helping him today. Kids also come from other parts of Florida to pitch in and to learn about coral reef biology. Last summer, 21 students from Tampa, Florida, were part of a huge good-news story. They discovered that the corals transplanted to Molasses Reef were releasing eggs and sperm! These combine in the seawater to produce coral larvae. And the larvae go on to become full-grown corals. In other words, the corals were making babies! To Ken, this discovery was

HAPPy ENDING: The teens take the young corals to a reef where staghorns once lived. Here, they “plant” them with strong glue (3). They hope these corals will grow to be strong and healthy, like this one (4).

really exciting. “We think that getting healthy corals to re-produce on their own is key to rebuilding the reef,” he explains. This won’t solve the problems with disease, pollution, and global warming, but it’s one step closer to saving staghorn corals. “We’ve made it possible,” Ken says, “for staghorns to help themselves make a comeback!”

Rangers: We thank Ken Nedimyer, president of the Coral Restoration Project, for his help with this article. —R.R.

JASON PICKERING/SEAPICS.COM

MOVING UP: Teens haul the cleaned corals to a boat waiting at the surface (1). The corals will be moved to reefs that no longer have staghorns. For now, it’s time to show off a job well done! (2) From left are Becca, Julia, Joanna, Elliot, Jenna, and Jonathan.

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