Microscope 1  Microscope 2  Microscope 3
When my husband and I purchased a microscope several years ago, we had no idea what intricate, detailed and ugly animals we would discover. Even though we looked at some insect parts, hair, plant fibers, blood drops, minerals etc., we never realized what the water samples we collected around the neighborhood were going to bring us.

We both are interested in astronomy, but when it's too cloudy or cold outside to look at God's vast creation through a telescope, we take a closer look at His creation under a microscope. This should be an investment for all home schoolers. Of course Len and I are being home schooled and we are in our 60's.

The following movies are just a small sample of what we have found. We will be adding more in the weeks and months ahead. So check back often to see the movies we like to watch. They are all rated "G" for great.

You can see them if you have Quicktime. You can download Quicktime free if you need to. Enjoy!


                      Microscopic Movies or Stills

These are only a few of our favorite movies that we took off the microscope. Look forward to others!! It's amazing what we see in a drop of water. Some of these have us wondering what they are. We usually collect water from road side water that is stagnant.
Never knowing what we'll see.
The Volvox...
is a rolling ball. When it is ready,
it releases the inside green babies...
called "daughter cells".
The Round Worm is my least favorite. It jumps around like this continuously. I don't think it ever gets tired. I read where there are 50,000 of these in every shovel full of dirt. When going barefoot they penetrate the skin and get into the blood stream, lay their eggs in your intestine, and can cause a lot of health problems. Dogs and cats, while they love to dig in the dirt and even lay in it, can become infested with these to the point that if you don't give them heart worm medicine, will die.
The Rotifer- You may not believe this, but after I watched these little critters for over 4 hours, I knew I had better get a video of this or no one would believe me. Algae playing 'spin off' or taking a 'fair' ride. I captured this Rotifer 'spinning' his cilia which makes the water spin bringing food into his gullet. Rotifers are protists and are the chief components of plankton (Whale food). The males only live 2-3 days or may not appear at all. If the water they live in dries up, you can rehydrate these creatures by adding water and waiting 24 hours. Bountiful in any plant water.
Chlamydomonas algae (plant/animal) were placed from their water into where there were these Rotifers spinning the water. Now this is what took me by surprise. Once they found out how much 'fun' it was to take a spin they kept doing it. As these flagellates spun and would spin off, they would come back again for another spin. You can see how annoyed the Rotifer got by tucking her head back inside herself. Other Chlamydomonas were gathering around to take their turn. Were they watching when they don't have eyes? Were they wanting a turn because they 'saw' how much fun it was? They are not known to have a brain, eyes or heart, so what is going on here? After watching for hours with my battery power gone and film space used up, I could not take more video on our Sony Cyber-shot 3.2 . But eventually the first Chlamies swam off and others took a spin. I kid you not!! Here are some facts we found out about these flagellates. The green color on water that sits awhile are millions of these little bobbers. I call them bobbers because they bob around in the water. You can't see their 4 flagella per green dot unless you go to a higher power on the microscope. You may find these bobbers floating singly or in as large as a group of 16. Here we have them in a group of 4. I've watched them split in half creating an exact duplicate of what they came from. If they're green they live like a plant, manufacturing their own food. If colorless, it lives like an animal. Actually, as I watched these little buggers having so much fun, I think even when they are green, they are animal. What causes them to be in different size groups I haven't a clue!
The long neck micro monster- or Lacrymaria is a ciliate. We found him in some swampy water and the stretching of his neck has us in utter amazement. Notice that no matter how far out he stretches his neck his body does not get smaller or change shape, nor does the diameter of his neck. How does he do this? Very interesting to watch. My daughter, Sheila, watched him and the movie she had of this bugger showed him swimming off 'into her computer'. She said, "I think he's in there somewhere. Ooh, where did he go??". You will find more information on him on other web sites.

Micro Movies Page 2



        More movies and/or stills coming in the future. Keep a look out!
                                Which one was your favorite??