Muddy Marshes A marsh is like a river of grass. Trees don’t grow in marshes. Instead, grasses, shrubs, and wildflowers grow in a marsh’s shallow water. Water plants like reeds, lily pads, and cattails
thrive in marshes. Duckweed floats on top of the water. Its leaves can grow so thick that they look like a green carpet. Like a swamp, fresh water or salt water can
fill a marsh. It all depends on where it’s located. T e Camargue is along the southern coast
of France. Here, the RhÔne River spills into the Mediterranean Sea. A colorful saltwater marsh stretches along the coast. Purple sea lavendar and yellow iris bloom.
Snow white wild horses splash through the marsh. T eir wide hooves and sturdy legs help them move easily through sticky marsh mud. T eir strong teeth rip up tough marsh grasses. Pink flamingos flock to the marshy coast.
T ere, they build nests out of mud. T ey use their curved bills to scoop up salty water and plankton. T en they squirt out the water and swallow the plankton. It fills them up and turns their feathers pink. Great blue herons tiptoe through the marsh.
T ese pale blue birds use long, sharp bills to spear fish. T en they swallow the fish whole. Up in the sky, there’s a flash of blue. It’s a kingfisher. It dives headfirst into the water. T e bird pops out a moment later, a fish in its bill.
Soggy Bogs A bog is a little diff erent from other wetlands. It gets its water from the sky, not the ground. Rain, sleet, and snow make this land wet. A bog also looks more like solid land than
other wetlands. T at’s because it needs a second ingredient to form. It needs moss. T is spongy plant can help form a bog in two ways. A bog can start as a pond with moss growing
nearby. Over time, the moss spreads. It covers the water. It blocks most light and air. Plants and animals in the water die and decompose. Slowly, the pond turns into soggy soil. A bog also can start on dry land. As moss
spreads, it traps water. Over time, it forms peat. Peat is a kind of wet soil made up of the remains of dead plants. Bogs mostly form in cold places. T eir soil
is poor. T eir water is acidic. All of this leads to another big diff erence between bogs and other wetlands. Not a lot lives in a bog. And some of what lives there can be kind of odd.
Life in a Bog A tiny plant grows among the bog moss. Red hairs stick out from its leaves. A sticky goo on the hairs sparkles in the sun. A fly lands on the plant. T en it tries to fly
off , but it can’t. Its feet are stuck in the goo! T e sundew plant has just caught its dinner. With poor soil to grow in, this plant has found another way to get the nutrients it needs. It eats meat. It lures, traps, and digests insects. T is carnivorous plant has plenty to eat in a
A frog pops its head out of fl oating duckweed. 22 NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC EXTREME EXPLORER
bog. Insects are one of the few kinds of animals that can survive here. Many other animals just visit. A sandhill crane, for example, flies in to raise its young. It builds its nest on the ground. T at could be dangerous in many places. Not in a bog. Few animals mean few predators. T e crane raises its chicks, then flies away.
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