ANIMAL ADAPTATIONS: Secrets of Survival in Ohio s Habitats

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1 TEACHER GUIDE Animal Adaptations: Secrets of Survival in Ohio s Habitats 60-Minute Life Science Lesson Interactive Video Conferencing Grades: 3-8 ANIMAL ADAPTATIONS: Secrets of Survival in Ohio s Habitats Description Explore a variety of animals and their roles in the eastern North American forest ecosystem. The live mammals, birds and reptiles you ll meet in our studio all have specific physical or behavioral adaptations allowing them to thrive in Ohio. Use our kit of specimens to appreciate the softness of skunk fur, the silence of owl feathers, and the teeth hidden inside a cute raccoon s mouth! Discuss how humans impact the flow of energy and nutrients in various ecosystems, and identify our crucial role in protecting natural diversity. *All our animal ambassadors were injured or orphaned at some time during their wild existence; this will be explained during the program. Objectives Identify some of the more common species of wildlife that may be observed in different habitats throughout the state of Ohio. Identify the roles of producers, herbivores, carnivores, omnivores and decomposers within an ecosystem Discuss ways to mitigate the negative affects humans can have on an ecosystem Discuss how animals patterns of behavior relate to the ecosystem through adaptation, habitat preferences, migration, predator-prey relationships, hibernation and reproduction. Ohio s Learning Standards Grade 3: Life Science - Behavior, Growth and Changes Plants and animals have life cycles that are part of their adaptations for survival in their natural environments. Grade 4: Life Science - Earth s Living History Changes in an organism s environment are sometimes beneficial to its survival and sometimes harmful. Grade 5: Life Science - Interconnections within Ecosystems Organisms perform a variety of roles in an ecosystem. All of the processes that take place within organisms require energy. Grade 7: Life Science Cycles of Matter and Flow of Energy Grade 8: Life Science Species and Reproduction

2 Before Your Program & How To Set Up Your Room A kit of real museum specimens will be shipped to you for use during our program (see last page of this guide for a listing of included specimens). Please make sure your students know to handle these materials with care. After your connection, please repack the items and use the included UPS return label to send the kit back to us. If you have an extra table handy, it could be placed at the front of the room as your Specimen Display Table, and you can spread out all the kit items so we may refer to them during the program. Review vocabulary with students if this program will be an introduction to this topic. Arrange desks so students can see your monitor clearly & hear our presenters easily. Vocabulary abiotic- the non-living resources within an ecosystem. Includes light, water, weather, soil, minerals, etc. adaptation - traits an animal has to help it survive arboreal - living in trees aquatic - living in water biotic - the living resources within an ecosystem. Plants, animals, fungi, etc. biomass total amount of material making up the organisms in one segment of a food chain carnivore an animal that eats only meat consumer an organism that must eat other living things to survive primary consumer animals that eat only producers (plants); herbivores secondary consumer animals that eat primary consumers (herbivores) tertiary consumer animals that eat secondary consumers (carnivores) quaternary consumer animals that eat tertiary consumers decomposer an organism that uses dead material as an energy source diurnal - active during the daytime domestic - dependant on people for food and survival ecosystem the members of an ecological community and their interactions with each other and the environment energy - the processes that keep the ecosystem going through sunlight and chemical transfers between the living and non-living parts of the system exotic - not native to an area; an organism that has been introduced to an area

3 feral - living in the wild, like mustangs compared to domestic horses food chain a single-line example of how nutrients and energy flow from one organism to another food web a web-like illustration of how nutrients and energy can flow through an ecosystem habitat -- the place in which plants and animals get their resources (water, shelter, sunlight, nutrients, etc.) in order to live herbivore an animal that eats only plant material hibernation - deep winter sleep indigenous - native to a particular area migration - periodic or seasonal travel of a group of animals from one area to another nocturnal - active at night omnivore an animal that will eat both plants and animals population the entire number of one type of organism within a particular location predator - animals that actively hunt other animals for food prey - the predator s food producer an organism that can use sunlight as an energy source (plants) raptor - A bird of prey such as a hawk or owl that catches food with TALONS, the claws of raptors terrestrial - living on land vertebrates - animals with backbones wild - surviving by their own skills, instincts and experience Extension Activities 1. Wheel O Food Chains Use the attached guides to create this fun post-program review tool! Give students a copy of both sheets and have them cut out the wheels as directed, plus the little windows that match up the layers. Brass brads can be used to attach the top sheet to the bottom sheet, and both sheets can be glued to separate standard (9 ) paper plates to make the wheel more durable. Challenge your students to fill in vocabulary words for each window that were mentioned during our program.

4 2. What s for Dinner? Have students create a diagram or visual aid that illustrates their place in the food web. Tell students to choose a meal they ve eaten recently and follow each food item consumed in that meal back to its energy origin (the sun). For example, a cheeseburger could be diagrammed as follows: Hamburger: humancowgrasssun Bun: humanwheatsun Cheese: humancowgrasssun Pickle: humancucumbersun Remember that with each link in the chain, more energy is used. It is more efficient to eat items whose chains have fewer links. By eating some kinds of animals, such as a tuna, we create a chain with five or more links (humantuna fishsquidshrimp planktonsun). By choosing to get more of our food energy from producers, we can reduce our impact on the environment! 3. Who Lives in My Backyard? Have students observe the flora and fauna in their area and make a list of the living organisms they see. To warm up the students observational skills, you may want to take them on a short nature hike around the school grounds. The National Wildlife Federation website ( has a lot of great educational activities to enhance your adventure! If the weather is not conducive to going outdoors, students can watch through a window for birds, squirrels and other common animals. Don t forget about plants and insects they are an important part of the food chain too! Students with digital cameras could try to photograph the organisms, as well. After students have created their lists, have students work in groups as described below to create paper food chains. 1. Split students into groups of four or five. Within each groups, there needs to be a designated group leader in charge of keeping group mates on task, a fact-checker with access to a computer or encyclopedia, and two or three craftsmen who create the links and put them together. 2. Have students write the names (or draw pictures) of each organism on their lists onto strips of paper. Then, after learning how each organism survives, create chains linking every organism to another organism that depends on it for food. 3. Groups that have too many of one type of organism and not enough of another may wish to trade with another group to get the type of organism they need. Allow students to barter with neighboring groups until most of the organisms from the students lists are a part of a valid food chain. Continue to create links in each chain until you get to an animal that is not eaten by any other animals (the dominant species). How many links can you create in the chain? Have groups compete to see who can create the longest chain.

5 To make the project more challenging, students can create food webs instead of chains, linking each animal to several food sources instead of just one. Students may wish to link the organisms in their food chains to organisms in other groups chains to create the web. This helps illustrate the complexity of energy flow in an ecosystem. When the project is complete, the food chains or webs can be hung from the ceiling of the classroom as a visual reminder that all organisms, including humans are connected. For classes that may not be able to venture outside, students could research animals common to your area and create food chains from them. The website for Port of Cleveland ( has lots of information about the Cleveland Lakefront Nature Preserve their field guide is beautifully illustrated and presents an excellent example of how wild animals can be found in the heart of an urban area. 4. Interdisciplinary Connections: Math have students create food chain brainteasers. Use the problem below as an example. For more fun, have students pair up and try to solve their partner s brainteaser! Example: Farmer John has a large farm. He grows corn, wheat and hay. Unfortunately, he has many rodents (mice and rats) eating his crops. He wants to get some cats to eat the rodents, but he doesn t want to have too many cats. Using the information below, figure out how many cats Farmer John needs to keep the rodent population under control. Right now, Farmer John estimates he has 100 rodents on his farm The number of rodents grows by about 10 rodents/day Each cat can catch 5 rodents/day but only needs to eat 3 rodents/day to survive What is the least number of cats Farmer John needs to keep the rodent population under control? He wants enough cats bring down the rodent population down to fewer than 30, but not so many cats that he ll need to start feeding them cat food to keep them alive! Note: These cats have been fixed so they won t have kittens! Language Arts Have a food chain themed limerick contest! 5. Corn Collection Chaos Materials Needed: A frog that got tired of flies Decided he d eat pizza pies. No, no, no said the goat They ll get stuck in your throat! It s a good thing that goats are so wise! Small paper bags Popcorn kernels (or any other small items that can be easily scattered and then gathered by students; dry dog food pellets, cotton balls, minimarshmallows whatever you want to use!) Permanent marker pencils or pens for all students In this game, students will learn about reduction of biomass as energy moves through the food chain. Students will also see what happens to animals in the food chain when a primary food source is eliminated due to human actions.

6 Set up: Assign about 70% of the students in the class to be insects, 20% to be shrews and 10% to be hawks. Distribute a paper bag to each student who will be an insect. Scatter the corn kernels on the floor. These kernels represent the energy of your food chain, starting as plants that the insects are about to eat. The timing of rounds and numbers of corn kernels can be adjusted for the size of your class. Round 1 1. The students who are insects collect as many kernels as they can in 20 seconds. The students then return to their seats and count their kernels, writing the total on their bags. Insects who have not collected 20 kernels have died from starvation. Those students are out of the game for this round. 2. The remaining insects stand in the middle of the room with their bags. Have these students throw 3 kernels back on the floor to represent the energy they are using to stay alive. This energy is not available to the predators who will hunt them. Now tell the students who are shrews to find and eat as many insects as they can in 20 seconds. When an insect is tapped on the shoulder, they must give the shrew their bag and go sit down. After 20 seconds, everyone sits down and the shrews add up the total number of kernels they collected (they should be able to add up the numbers on the bags previously added up by the insects). Shrews who have not collected at least 60 kernels die of starvation. They are out for the rest of the round. 3. The remaining shrews stand in the center of the room with their bags and toss 6 kernels on the floor to represent spent energy. Students who are hawks have 20 seconds to eat as many shrews as they can. After 20 seconds, everyone sits down and the hawks total up their kernels. Hawks who have not collected at least 100 kernels die from starvation. When this round is over, talk about the distribution of biomass within the food chain; there needs to be more producers than primary consumers, more primary consumers than secondary consumers, etc. The idea that foods further up the food chain are generally a more condensed form of energy (have more calories per gram) can also be discussed. Make sure students understand that it takes more energy to keep a secondary consumer alive than a primary consumer. Round 2 This round works the same way as the last round, except in this case a shopping mall has been built near the woodland area where the animals live. Many of the wildflowers that the insects depended on for food have been paved over. Reduce the number of kernels scattered on the floor by 25% and play the rest of the game as before. Ask students how the reduction of plant material to feed the insects has impacted the number of shrews and hawks in the area. Stress how everything in the food chain, including us, is impacted when a primary food source is taken away. Follow-up - Bioaccumulation Background - Pesticides that are sprayed on plants and then eaten by primary consumers (herbivores) become concentrated as they move up the food chain. A plant sprayed with pesticide may only have a concentration of that chemical of 1 part per million (ppm) within its seeds. If a mouse eats many seeds from that plant, it may end up with a pesticide concentration of 10 ppm in

7 its tissues. A hawk that eats many mice over the course of a summer could build up an accumulation of 100 ppm. While the mouse may not show ill effects from 10 ppm of the chemical, the hawk is much more likely to suffer ill effects from 100 ppm. This is what happened with the chemical DDT that was sprayed to control mosquitoes in the 1960s. Birds of prey who ate the animals that ate the contaminated insects could not produce normal eggs and the bird populations plunged. Simulate the above scenario in the corn kernel game using the permanent marker to make a dot on about 1/5 of your kernels. These will represent plants contaminated with a toxic chemical such as a pesticide or a heavy metal. Spread the kernels as before, but after the first round, have students note how many contaminated kernels their animal ate and the ratio of contaminated kernels to safe kernels. Before the second round, have students dump 3 unmarked kernels on the floor to represent energy used by life functions. Then play the second round as before. After the 2 nd round, again have the students total their kernels and note the ratio of contaminated to safe kernels. Have students dump 6 unmarked kernels and play the third round. After this round, it should be evident that there are relatively more toxic and fewer safe kernels. As the toxic chemicals are concentrated in the secondary and tertiary consumers, there is a greater likelihood of ill effects from these chemicals. This is why larger predators are often most affected by pollution. Online Resources for Teachers and Students Click the link below to find additional online resources for teachers and students. These websites are recommended by our Museum Educators and provide additional content information and some fun, interactive activities to share with your class. CMNH Educators regularly review these links for quality. Web addresses often change so please notify us if any links have issues. Cleveland Museum of Natural History

8 KIT CONTENTS: ANIMAL ADAPTATIONS 1 UPS label to be taped onto the blue kit for return from your school. 2 Zip-ties to seal the bin for return. Please layer the fragile items between furs to avoid damage during shipping. 8 MAMMAL SKULLS: 7 MAMMAL FURS: Raccoon Striped skunk Opossum Red fox Muskrat Beaver Bobcat White-tailed deer skullcap + antlers Red fox Beaver Raccoon Striped skunk 5 BIRD SKULLS: Great Blue heron Domestic duck Hawk (species unknown) Northern cardinal Ruby-throated hummingbird 4 FEATHERS: Wild turkey tail feather Wild turkey wing feather Red-tailed hawk wing feather Owl wing feather (Great Horned or Barn Owl) 1 REPTILE ITEM: Red-eared slider turtle shell

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