I need some honest opinions, please?

Hi,


I wrote this science report for school caIled "Big Cats", covering lions, tigers, and mountain lions. I am homeschooled and don't get graded, so I was wondering if you guys could read it and give me you honest opinions + grade my work.


(FYI I'm in 9th grade). Thanks!


P.S. I had pictures and cool font in my report which didn't show up on here, so the format may look a little funny, just so u know):





Big Cats








The Lion:





The lion king








Lions are the only cats that live in groups, called prides. A pride can have up to three males, a dozen or so lionesses (female lions), and their young. Usually the female cubs stay with the pride after they become adults, but the males will eventually leave to make a pride of their own by taking over the group of another male.


The lions within a pride are a close-knit family. The only cats that are social, the lions are very affectionate, often licking, head rubbing, and pawing each other.











The males defend the pride’s territory, which is often as big as 100 square miles of grasslands, scrub, or open woodlands. They mark the boundaries of their realm with urine, and roar menacingly to chase off any intruders that are brave enough to trespass on their turf.





Lions hunt only when they’re hungry. Animals that are usually prey for the lions seem to sense when they are there to kill and, when they’re not, will even ignore the lions, wandering close to them.


The females are the pride’s primary hunters. Though they will hunt alone if the opportunity arises, they often use teamwork because some of the animals they prey on (antelope, zebras, wildebeests, elephants, etc) are usually faster, and sometimes bigger, then they are.











Hunting is an organized event. During the dry season when water is scarce, the lionesses will lie by the waterhole and wait for prey to come to drink, then launch an attack.


Though the head male lion usually takes little or no part in the hunt, he always takes precedence at the kill, dragging the prey to a chosen spot, then gorging himself before the females and cubs are permitted to eat.





Though lions used to be found all throughout Africa, they are now found only in the south Sahara Desert and some parts of southern and eastern Africa. Historically in addition to Africa, lions were found from Greece through the Middle East to northern India.


The lion population has also decreased. It has been reduced by half since the 1950s, leaving fewer than 21,000 lions living wild in all of Africa. The Gir Wildlife Sanctuary in India contains approximately 200 lions.





Interesting Facts:





· Head and body length (tail included)- approx. 9 ft.


· Weight- anywhere from 300 to 600 pounds, males being bigger then females.


· Height: approx. 4 ft (males.) Females are smaller.


· Lifespan: Usually anywhere from 13-20 years, sometimes up to 24.


· Reproduction: After a gestation period of 15-17 weeks, females give birth to up to 6 cubs, usually 3-4.


· Diet: Carnivorous (wildebeests, giraffe, antelope, wild pigs, zebras, elephants, any other hoofed animal. Sometimes they will prey on smaller animals like birds, hares, and even reptiles.)


· Top Speed: 50 mph over short distances


· Longest leap: 36 ft.


· Distance over which a roar can be heard: 5 miles; both males and females roar.


·








The Tiger:





The eye of the tiger














The tiger is the largest member of the cat family, measuring in anywhere from 4 to 9.2 feet long. The male Siberian tiger, the biggest subspecies, can weigh anywhere from 400 to 675 pounds. The Sumatran tiger, the smallest living subspecies, averages 220 to 310 pounds. The females of all subspecies are always smaller than males. They are, on average, 3.5 feet tall at the shoulder.





Tigers basically live solitary lives, except during mating season and when females bear young. They are usually fiercely territorial, leaving their scent around their large home ranges to warn others to stay away from their turf.





There are nine breeds of tigers: Bengal, Siberian, Indochinese, South Chinese, Sumatran, Malayan, Caspian, Javan and Bali. Of these, the last three are extinct and the rest are endangered.


Historically, tigers could be found from Turkey through South and Southeast Asia, to the far eastern shores of the continent. Now, however, the tigers are only found in South and Southeast Asia, China, and the Russian Far East.


Although in the early 1900s there were over 100,000 tigers living throughout their range, now there is only between four and five thousand existing in the wild.





Tigers occupy a wide variety of habitat, from tropical forests, evergreen forests, woodlands and mangrove swamps, to grasslands and rocky country. They are mostly nocturnal, meaning they are more active at night, and are stalk-and-ambush predators that rely on the camouflage their black stripes provide. Tigers attack by using their immense body weight to their advantage, launching themselves on top of prey and forcing it to the ground. They kill with bites to the nape and neck.


Unlike most cats, tigers are very good swimmers and fond of water. They have even been known to kill prey while swimming.








Tigers are carnivores, and will prey on deer, water buffalo, and antelope. They have also been known to attack dogs, sloth bears, crocodiles, pythons, and leopards, as well as monkeys and hares.


Of all the big cats, tigers are the ones most often though of as “man-eaters”. But in reality, tigers rarely attack humans, and the ones that do are usually very old or injured and are unable to catch other prey.


Like Jim Corbett, author of the book Man Eaters Kumaon, said, "A man-eating tiger is a tiger that has been compelled, through stress of circumstances beyond its control, to adopt a diet alien to it. The stress of circumstances is, in nine cases out of ten, wounds, and in the tenth case, old age."





A female tiger usually has three to four cubs per litter. Cubs follow their mother out of the den at around 8 weeks and become independent at about 18 months of age. Mothers are careful to guard their young from wandering males that may kill the cubs to make the female receptive to mating.


The cubs stay with their mother for two or three years before leaving to begin lives of their own.









































The Mountain Lion:





The lion sleeps tonight…











The Mountain lion, also called cougar, panther, and puma, is a large predator that’s at the top of the food chain. Adult mountain lions can weigh anywhere from 80 to 230 pounds, depending on they’re location. They are usually 2 to 3 feet in height and 6 to 8 feet in length from their nose to the dark tip at the end of their tail.


Young lions, called kittens or cubs, have spots that fade before they’re a year old. While lions will breed at any time of the year, most litters (anywhere from 1-5 cubs; usually 3-4)) are born in late spring and summer. At one or two years of age, the kittens start becoming independent of their mother. Though cougars are normally solitary creatures, young mountain lions may travel with their littermates for months before completely going off on their own.





Semi-territorial, mountain lions mark out their turf by making “scrapes” along the boundary lines. A scrape is a 4-6” mound of dirt and leaves pulled together where the cat relieves itself to leave its scent. The scrape is a signal to other mountain lions, telling them that this territory is already occupied and should be avoided. A male’s territory can be anywhere from 50 to 200 square miles; a female’s territory is usually closer to 50 square miles.


Mountain lions are believed to live in the western United States, Florida, Canada, Mexico, and both Central and South America. (See map bellow):





Mountain lions are most active at dusk and dawn, but it’s still not unusual for them to travel at anytime of the day or night. Lions have a special adaptation for seeing at night and are easily blinded when caught in a flashlight beam or a passing vehicle’s headlights.


These cats are also unique among other predators because when hunting, they often take down prey many times their own size. It is not unusual for a 140-pound lion to take on and kill a 400-pound elk. A lion hunts by silently stalking their unsuspecting prey, then ambushing it from behind and killing it with ferocious bites to the neck. When attacking a very large animal, the lion may reach around the neck and pull its head back, thrusting hard enough to break its neck.











The mountain lion is carnivorous. Its diet consists mostly of white-tailed deer, moose, and caribou. They also eat smaller animals like squirrels, mice, muskrats, voles, skunks, raccoons, beavers, birds, fish, and even coyotes. Occasionally a mountain lion will turn to domestic animals for a source of food.





Mountain lions are well known for one specific sound that they make: a shrill, piercing, terrifying cry that is often described as “like a woman screaming.”


The cats also communicate with growls, hisses, purrs and bird-like whistles, which are probably used by a mother and her cubs for distinguishing location and communicating instructions.





Mountain lions usually live to be anywhere from 12-18 years old, but can live up to 20 years old.

I need some honest opinions, please?
It's a bit redundant in some places and there are dozens of grammatical errors (mostly comma and semicolon usage errors). The information is good and the overall organization is solid. As it currently is, I would give you a B, but you could make it a better read if you rewrite it. Watch for places where you repeat previous lines and be a little more careful with your use of commas and semicolons.
Reply:awesome! Report It

Reply:Your paper is very well organized and very imformative. I learned many new things from this paper. I bet with all the different fonts and pictures your paper has good eye appeal also.





Awesome work. You deserve an "A". Keep up the good work!!! :)
Reply:its beautiful and its fun to read


one more fact lions cubs stay with the mother for tow years
Reply:Honestly, that's just too much to read.





sorry.
Reply:Nicley typed out, but there is 1 fact left out re lions.


If a new Male Lion comes into another prides terrority, the leader of that pride and intruder will fight, if the orginal male leader looses and the new 1 wins, and if there are cubs, he will kill the cubs , so that the lioness will come into season again and he then ensures he as offspring. Cats also do this.


HTH.
Reply:That sucks...
Reply:It's good as far as it goes. But I think you ought to include something on cheetahs.
Reply:The paper is informative and interesting, although there are typos that should be fixed. I suggest that you re-read carefully to check the grammar and spelling. One additional item--I noticed that you did not include citations or a bibliography. In general, when writing a paper, it is abolutely critical to cite your sources to prevent charges of plagiarism. Obviously you have done some reading and research in order to write this paper, and you need to include your sources.