This is a great activity to get kids thinking about how animals adapt to winter and how humans have borrowed some of these ideas. After designing and building their own glove or mitten they'll test their creation to see how well it stands up to the cold.
You'll find more seasonal science ideas on my Pinterest Boards:
When you are thinking of animals from A-Z, the letter X poses some problems. There just aren't many animals, or words for that matter, that start with X!
Today, X is for Xenarthra. "Xen...what?" You might say. Xenarthra, pronounced "zen-arth-rah", is the group of animals that includes anteaters, tree sloths and armadillos. These are some interesting and bizarre creatures, each with some pretty amazing adaptations that help them to survive in their own niche in various locations on the planet.
Adaptations are how an animal is built, or how it behaves, that help it to survive. Often humans borrow these ideas for adaptations to help us do things. Today we are going to go on a Xenarthra adaptations scavenger hunt. You'll be looking for things humans have constructed that do the same jobs as the amazing adaptations of anteaters, tree sloths and armadillos. You can search in your house, outside, or in your classroom. For example: you might be looking for something protective like the armadillos bony plates. Maybe you'll find a bicycle helmet, or some hard plastic knee pads.
First, let's learn about some of these animals wild adaptations, then you can print out some scavenger hunt cards and go on your adventure!
The anteater has a long pointed nose, that is not only great for finding food, but also can be held above the water when swimming- like a snorkel!
The anteater's long tongue can reach up to 2 feet! It has tiny barbs and sticky saliva to catch ants. It moves quickly, so if you're an ant, you don't stand a chance!
Anteaters have long tube-like mouths with no teeth. Their specialized stomachs have strong muscles and powerful acid so that they don't have to chew their food.
On the inner toes of each foot, the anteater has long claws. These are used to break open ant hills and termite mounds, in addition to protecting them from predators and climbing trees. They walk on the sides of their feet so that they don't wear down these important tools.
The anteater's tail is used as an additional appendage. It can be used like a kickstand to help the animal keep its balance when standing on its hind legs. It can also be used to hang on branches. Part of the tail is hairless to help the animal grip. The rest has long hair which helps to keep the animal warm when it wraps the tail around its body.
The sloth has a stomach that includes many compartments. The food the sloth eats is difficult to break down, so this helps the process. It can take a long time, sometimes a month, for the food to break down!
The sloth's metabolism is super slow and the creature maintains a low body temperature. Both of these adaptations allow the animal to survive on food that doesn't give them much energy.
The sloth's fur is different than other animals. When the sloth is hanging upside down in a tree, the fur points down to help it shed water. Sloths living in very moist and wet conditions may have 2 types of cyanobacteria, or blue-green algae, growing on their fur. This gives them a greenish color that helps them camouflage.
Sloths have curled claws that help them climb and hold themselves up in trees. These claws can help with protection, but they mostly rely on camouflage to hide themselves from predators.
To learn more about sloths and for another great adaptations activity, check out my International Sloth Day post!
Armadillos
Southern Three Banded Armadillo image: Ltshears derivative work: WolfmanSF (SouthernThreeBandedArmadillo065.jpg) [CC BY-SA 3.0 or GFDL], via Wikimedia Commons
Armadillo Adaptations
Armadillos are known for the hard bony plates that cover them from head to tail. Depending on the armadillo, they can have anywhere from 7-11 telescoping bands of plates. In between each plate is soft skin and hair. These plates serve as excellent protection!
When an armadillo needs to protect itself, it finds a hole and wedges itself inside with those bony plates pointed outward. This creates a strong wall that is very difficult for another animal to dislodge.
Animal behaviors can be adaptations too. An armadillo's first response to a predator will be to jump up in the air, which usually surprises the predator enough that it will run away.
Armadillos have strong claws for digging and burrowing.
Floating, flying, hitchhiking...plant seeds have many adaptations for survival. Challenge your kids or students to design their own seeds. What adaptations for survival do your seeds have?
This is a great opportunity to learn the engineering process. Explore plant adaptations and life cycles. Observe the variety found in real plant seeds. So many possibilities here for science and engineering!
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Amazing Plant Seeds
I love seeds! All the different shapes,
the variety, the adaptations for survival, they are all pretty
amazing. When learning about seeds with kids, one of my favorite
picture books to read is the beautifully illustrated story, The Dandelion Seed, by Joseph Anthony and illustrated by Cris Arbo.
The story follows a hesitant dandelion
seed as it floats away from its plant in the fall. Throughout its
adventure it passes through the 4 seasons, by cities and countryside
until eventually it comes full circle and grows into a dandelion
plant. This plant makes seeds as well that head off on their own
adventures on the last page.
The book is a great entry point to
many science topics including plant life cycles, seasonal changes and
plant adaptations. The topic of plant adaptations leads us to a fun
engineering challenge: design a seed! Some seeds fly in the air, some
float in the water. Some stick to the fur of animals, our socks and
pants to get from one place to another. Some even must be digested
before they can grow!
Seed Engineering Design Challenge
The engineering challenge will be to
design three different seeds and test out their abilities. You'll
design one that is meant to fly in the breeze, one that will float in
water, and another that will stick to something fuzzy.
You can use any household materials for
your design challenge. I suggest items such as: scrap paper, box
board (cereal boxes, cracker boxes etc.) drinking straws, string, 3x5
index cards, rubberbands, paperclips and scissors. To make it more of
a challenge do not include tape, glue or velcro in your supplies.
Although most seeds are fairly small,
your designs can be as big as you'd like, as long as they float, fly
and stick you've accomplished your goal!
Once you've created a seed that you
think will fly, test it out! If it is a dry day you can take your
seed outside, or (keeping safety in mind) drop it out an upstairs
window. You can also set up a fan and test it indoors. (Please watch
out for little fingers!)
Find a fuzzy blanket, fleece jacket, or
patient pet to test your sticky seed out. How well do they work? It
is okay to tweak your design, that is what professional engineers do!
Once you are finished, you might want
to learn more about seed adaptations. What different shapes do seeds
come in? Can you find any that look like the seeds you created? I
suggest picking up a copy of Flip, Float, Fly: Seeds on the Move by
JoAnn Early Macken, illustrated by Pam Paparone. This colorful story
with fun text describes how many different types of seeds travel,
with an example of each. Who knows, maybe it will inspire a new seed
design challenge?
Another excellent non-fiction picture
book is How and Why? Seeds Travel by Elaine Pascoe with photographs
by Dwight Kuhn. This book has great close-up photography of seeds on
the move and their growth and development. It wraps up with some
additional learning activities to try.
If you enjoyed The Dandelion Seed,
you'll also like the Joseph Anthony's second story about dandelion
seeds, The Dandelion Seed's Big Dream. This one follows a seeds
plight through some tough conditions before its dream comes true, to
grow into a flower. Some science ideas here are persistence in
nature, plant adaptations and life cycles. There is also a nice
section in the back of the book with some scientific information
about dandelion plants.
Did you know that February 12th is Charles Darwin's
birthday, now known as "Darwin Day"? Charles Darwin was a naturalist, geologist, and biologist. As one of the fathers of evolutionary theory, he is a historical figure worth celebrating in science class.
Darwin Day is a great
opportunity to thank Darwin for his contributions to science and
learn through some great adaptation and natural selection activities.
When the science lessons are over, celebrate Darwin Day with a party!
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Who Was Charles Darwin?
Charles Darwin is known for summing up
evidence for the theory of evolution and developing the theory of
natural selection through his travels on the HMS Beagle. His book, On the Origin of Species, shaped modern biology
and evolutionary theory. Some of Darwin's most interesting work, and
what I believe to be the best introduction point for children, was on
the diversity of species, particularly the adaptations of island
finches.
Darwin observed the finches on the
Galapagos islands and found that their beaks varied due to the
different types of food and environments on each island. Variation is
not only seen in bird beaks around the world, but across bird
species.
Darwin's Finches. By John Gould (14.Sep.1804 -
3.Feb.1881) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
Student Activities: Bird Beak Adaptations
A wonderful hands-on way to engage students in the idea of adaptation is to have them model how these various bird beaks work. There are many activities where this is
explored.
In general, the idea is that you provide your class with
various items that will serve as "beaks", straws,
nutcracker, ladle, chopsticks, etc. The students try to forage for
food items with these different beaks.
You may provide things like
gummy worms in soil, goldfish in water, sunflower seeds to crack,
etc. You can get creative with this, keeping in mind you want to
model something fairly realistic to nature. Many of the items you use
can easily be found around the house.
I love this Bird Beaks Lab from Wild Earth Lab, it provides everything you need to make this a hands-on lesson in the classroom or at home.
"Baby Beluga in the Deep Blue Sea!" It is
hard to get that old Raffi tune out of my head as I am writing this
post. Beluga whales are
fascinating and charismatic creatures. This recent research on them
may be an interesting entry point to learning about this whale at
school or home.
This post contains affiliate links.
See disclosures for details.
Did you know that beluga whales blow bubbles from their blow holes? Not only do they blow bubbles, but
they can control the types of bubbles they are blowing, and
scientists now believe these different bubbles represent the mood of
the animal!
It seemed odd for an animal that needs
to hold its breath underwater to purposefully blow bubbles, so
researchers were interested in getting to the bottom of the
phenomenon. The research took place at Marineland of Canada in
Niagara Falls, Ontario by a team of researchers from Canisius
College. During the 8 year study they found that practically all the
beluga whales blew bubbles in four source-shape combinations:
blowhole drips, blowhole bursts, blowhole streams and mouth rings.
The bubbles were produced by males and females, adults and juveniles.
"Blowhole bursts" are part of
the beluga's startle response. These are produced most often by adult
females, indicating that in nature they are more reactive than adult
males. Juvenile males made this type of bubble more often than
females and researchers believe that this is because they engage in
rowdier levels of play than the females.
Although "blowhole streams"
are a sign of aggression in humpback whales, the belugas exhibited
this type of bubbling when they were swimming in a friendly manner
side-by-side. The scientists found that some days the whales blew
many bubbles and other days they did not. As the conditions of the
aquarium were similar everyday, it seems very likely that the
behavior is indicative of mood rather than environmental conditions.
Imagine if we communicated with each
other this way! There is a lot to learn about beluga whales.
They are
relatively small whales that live in shallow areas in arctic waters.
It is the only species of whale that is known to be entirely white as
an adult.
If you live in New England, you are not
far from the largest outdoor beluga exhibit in the United States, at
the Mystic Aquarium in CT.
It would be difficult not to become instantly smitten with these
friendly whales that come to see you as you approach their enclosure.
This post contains affiliate links, please see disclosures for more info.
Sloths are native to South America
where they spend most of their time in the trees. You probably
associate sloths with being slow or lazy. There is a reason for that!
Although sloths are not speedy, they have amazing adaptations
allowing them to live successfully in their niche in tropical
forests.
What is an adaptation exactly?
Adaptations are like a animal or plant's "special features".
Adaptations are the way a plant or animal is built or behaves that
helps it to survive in its habitat. A plant's thorns, or a duck's
waterproof feathers are both examples of adaptations.
Do not be confused by the use of the
word "adapt". Animals are not able to quickly adapt to a
change in their habitat. For example, if the temperature dips to
colder than usual they can't instantly grow fur to keep them warm.
Adaptations are changes that have taken place over many generations
suiting the animal or plant best for its environment.
Sloths have some AMAZING adaptations!
Sloth eating. By
Christian Mehlführer, User: Chmehl (Own work) [CC BY 2.5], via Wikimedia Commons
As a sloth's diet consists mostly of
leaves, they do not get much nutrition or energy from their food. In
order to deal with this they have a stomach with many compartments to
help slowly break down the leaves. About 2/3 of a healthy sloth's
body weight consists of the contents of their stomach! It can take up
to a month to digest their leafy diet.
Since a sloth's digestive system is so
slow and their food does not provide a lot of energy, they have
adaptations to make up for this. They have very slow metabolisms,
about 1/2 of what you would expect for an animal of their size. Their
body temperatures are very low- only about 30 degrees Celsius, or 86
degrees Fahrenheit when they are active, even lower when they are at
rest! Sloths do not move quickly, because they do not have the extra
energy to waste!
By Stefan Laube
(Tauchgurke) [Public domain], via Wikimedia Commons
Sloth fur is specialized to help
protect them as they hang upside down in trees. A sloth's outer fur
points in the opposite direction of most mammals- away from their
extremities- to protect them from the elements. A sloth living in
moist conditions shares its fur with 2 different species of symbiotic
cyanobacteria. This cyanobacteria gives the sloth's fur a greenish
tinge, which helps to keep it camouflaged.
Besides staying camouflaged and only
leaving their spot in the trees once in a while to relieve
themselves, the sloth does not have too many adaptations for
protection. Their claws are basically their only line of defense if
they are actively being attacked. The main predators of sloths are
jaguars, harpy eagles and humans.
Amazing Adaptations Activity:
Sloths have great adaptations, and so
do many other animals. Here is an engaging activity for getting
children to use their imagination and their understanding of animals
and habitats. I have used it successfully with a wide variety of age
groups, 1st-8th grade.
First you will need to create some
lists of adaptations. You'll want several categories. They can be
anything of your choosing for plants, or animals. For example here
are some categories I might choose for animals: protection,
coloration, locomotion, mouth-parts.
Generate a list of adaptations for each
category. For example:
Cut your list
into strips, fold and then place them in a container or envelope. You
will keep them in their categories, so in my example I would have 4
different envelopes, one for each. Remember, you can have as many
categories as you want! Have the kids choose one strip of paper from
each envelope. They must create a creature that has each of these
features. Then they will draw the creature and their environment and
be able to explain how each adaptation helps the new animal to
survive in it.
In my example,
the student might have to create a creature with spiky fur, bright
yellow stripes, that runs very fast and has flat teeth for grinding
plants. Maybe the animal's environment could be one with lots of
yellow flowers for camouflage and speedy predators to avoid. Its
spiky fur helps to protect it from the thorns on the yellow flowers
and allows it to get close to the flower to eat its leaves. Its name
is the Yellow-striped Herbiyoo and it lives in the jungle.
Questions to
ask:
Does the
creature have any predators? How does it protect itself?
What does it
eat? How do its adaptations help it to find food?
Could any of
these imaginary creatures survive in the same habitat as a sloth?
What is your
animal's name?
How many babies
does it have?
What new animals
have your kids or students created? We would love to see them and
know what other cool facts you learn about sloths! Comment below, or
share on our Facebook, Google+ or Twitter pages.
Two recent scientific studies really
highlight how fascinating animal eyes are. The first looks at the
different ways animals see color and how this impacts camouflage,
predation and animal/plant signaling. Scientists at the University of Exeter developed software to convert digital photos into the color scheme
that different animals see in. Up until now it has been difficult to
use digital photography for this type of research. This software will
be helpful to scientists in the future as we continue to study animal
physiology and how animals interact with their environment.
What is
most exciting about the software is that anyone can download it for
free. I was excited to try it, but found I lacked some of the
technical expertise that it might take to use it on my own photos. If
you are tech and photography savvy or know someone who is, then you
probably will find it interesting. You can find the download at this site.
In the meantime, you can see
differences in animal vision by visiting this article from Nautilus
science magazine: "How Animals See the World". In this
article you can use the interactive pictures to change the image from
what a human can see to what an animal sees. You can also visit
Jolyon Troscianko's website to see some of his photography using the
software he helped develop at the University of Exeter.
For some more interesting insight into
animal eyes check out these videos:
The second study, published
in the journal Science Advances, on animal eyes
dealt with the shape of the pupils of predatory animals and prey
animals. Vertical pupils, like those you might see in a cat or fox,
help these predatory animals pinpoint the location of their next
meal. This shape of pupil makes it easy to see vertically shaped
objects more clearly at further distances and horizontal shapes
blurry over fairly small distances. It is thought that this contrast
helps the animal triangulate and find exactly where it's prey is.
The horizontal shape of the pupil of
many prey animals, like deer, allow greater panoramic vision and help
to shield light. These features could help an animal spot a predator
from further away. It would be a fun classroom or at-home activity to
look at a variety of animal eyes and try to determine what sort of
animal it is based on the pupil shape.
Interested in learning more about
animal eyes? Check out my blog post: "Just the Right Length: Eyelash Physics" to learn about animal eyelashes, find links to
lesson plans and resources about eyes and some suggestions for great
books about animal eyes to share with kids.
David Sim from London,
United Kingdom (Cuttlefish) [CC BY 2.0], via Wikimedia Commons
Did you know that June 8th is
World Oceans Day? You may be already planning or involved in an ocean
event, but if not, you can brush up on some research from some
amazing ocean creatures and find links to fun activities right here!
Two recent papers published in the
Journal of Experimental Biology have revealed some fascinating
facts about cephalopod skin. Cephalopods include ocean creatures like
the octopus, squid and cuttlefish. If you have never discovered the
amazing camouflage abilities of this group of animals before, you
really need to check them out.
We have understood that cephalopods
have cells in their skin that can adapt quickly to change color to
blend into their surroundings. It has always been a puzzle that these
animals could adapt to color when they are actually color blind. The
new research indicates that in addition to being able to control the
color of the skin, these skin cells, or chromatophores, might also be
light sensitive. Further study revealed that the skin also contained
visual proteins that respond to different wavelengths of light. In
other words, the animal's skin actually helps it to see! The mystery
has not been completely solved, but scientists are getting much
closer to understanding the incredible adaptations of cephalopod
skin.
Another mind-boggling article published
in the journal Science, highlights the incredible
microscopic creatures observed on the 3-year expedition of the
research schooner, Tara. These organisms were not visible to the naked eye, so the scientists
found them by looking for their genetic material in the water samples
they had collected. The organisms ranged from viruses, protists and
bacteria and other tiny creatures. This sea life has been described
as Dr. Suess-like as they come in all sorts of shapes and sizes. See
a gallery of images here.
Although some of the organisms had similar genetic material to known
life, many were previously uncatalogued discoveries.
We have just begun to scratch the
surface when it comes to understanding the ocean. New discoveries are
constantly being made. Although we might not have learned about every
creature or the extent of the depths of the ocean we do understand the importance of
preserving these vast bodies of water and the life within them. There
is so much more to learn and appreciate! Check out the World Oceans Day website to find an event
taking place near you.
Here we are in mid-winter. If you live
in one of the colder, snowier parts of the country you're beginning
to feel the toll of the shorter days and cold temperatures. Wouldn't
it be nice to just eat a big meal, hop under the covers and hibernate
until May? Even if this were physically possible, there would be many
adverse physiological affects to being sedentary for 4 months. Why is
it then, that other mammals can do it? How can learning about
hibernators help us understand human health? Scientists have been
researching the effects of hibernation on other mammals and their
bodies abilities to combat the negative consequences of hibernation.
They hope to not only learn more about these animals, but also to
learn more about human health. Studying bears and other hibernators
might unlock clues to combating human conditions like diabetes,
osteoporosis, stroke and heart disease.
Hibernation is not simply sleep.
After a lot of preparation, the body's heartbeat, breathing and
metabolism slows down incredibly. Black bears are inactive
for about 6 months of the year. Despite this inactivity they are able
to maintain a healthy bone density and emerge in the spring without
the type of bone loss that a human would face after being sedentary
for so long. Over a human lifespan we lose more bone than we can
replace, leading to weaker bone structure. Bears are able to
"recycle" bone throughout their hibernation. Scientists
from Michigan Technological University and Colorado State University have been
studying which hormones regulate the blood calcium in these bears.
Researcher Seth Donahue found that
parathyroid hormone (PTH), a hormone found in both the bears and
humans, has a unique amino acid sequence in the black bears. Mice
injected with the bear PTH have developed stronger bones, indicating
that perhaps this hormone could also help humans with bone diseases
such as osteoporosis.
Diabetes and obesity are becoming
a rampant problem in the United States. Grizzly bears may help us to
understand how to treat diabetes more effectively. As humans gain
weight their bodies stop responding to insulin, a hormone that is key
in metabolizing sugars and fats properly. When the body no longer
responds to this hormone, the person becomes diabetic. Grizzly bears
must gain a lot of weight before they go into hibernation. As they
gain more fat they actually become more sensitive to insulin, the
opposite to what occurs in humans. The bears are able to switch their
metabolism back and forth depending on their needs throughout the
year. Researchers at the Washington State University Bear Center and the
drug company Amgen are looking
at the protein responsible for the bear's ability to change its
insulin regulation with the seasons. This protein, PTEN, controls for
insulin sensitivity and resistance. If we understand more about this
protein then we might be able to use this information to help treat
the negative effects of diabetes while patients manage weight and
other health risks.
Another hibernator, the arctic
ground squirrel, might be able to help us prevent strokes and heart
disease in humans. Brian Barnes studies this phenomena at
the University of Alaska Fairbanks. During a
stroke, there is a lack of oxygen flowing to the brain. A hibernating
ground squirrel has a brain blood flow that is a tenth of the normal
amount. We would expect that this would cause a stroke in the
squirrel. However, the ground squirrel also has a much lower
metabolism when it is hibernating than it does when it is active.
Using this idea, it is thought that if we could lower the metabolism
of human stroke victims shortly after their stroke then it might
prevent brain damage. Arctic ground squirrels also may be key in
learning about preventing heart disease. When the human heart stops
it cannot pump oxygenated blood around the body properly, which
changes metabolism and causes lactic acid builds up, killing cells.
The squirrel does not have this problem. Even when their hibernating
heart has slowed to one beat per minute, the squirrel is able to
break down more fats than sugars. Understanding how this animal can
make the switch to using fat to fuel metabolism could help prevent
damage to human organs of heart surgery patients.
We might not be able to sleep away
a cold, snowy day, but perhaps the adaptations of hibernating animals
can help us find ways to improve our health. It seems like Mother
Nature is always there to back us up, we just have to unravel her
mysteries first!
Why do zebras have stripes? This
question has been researched and hypothesized for many years. Up
until now there have been four main theories for why one of our
favorite African animals has its black and white coat. The prevailing
theories were that the stripes a) confused predators, b) protected
against biting insects that carried disease c) helped to control and
maintain body temperature, and d) were used as a way of identifying
with their herd. Previous research has focused on testing one of
these hypotheses at a time. The latest study from a team out of
UCLA's department of ecology and evolutionary biology
tested a bigger set of hypotheses against
one another to come to their conclusion.
The research team, led by Brenda Larison,
determined that the temperature of the area the zebras lived in was
the biggest factor determining their striping pattern. Larison and
others have committed themselves to learning more about the striping
pattern of zebras, with their cutting-edge research including DNA
sequencing to determine what genes code for striping. In this
particular study, Larison's team observed the plains zebra, which is
the most common of the three species of zebra. This zebra has a wide
range of stripe patterns. By comparing sixteen different areas where
the zebras lived, the scientists found that the zebras in colder
areas had lighter, narrower and fewer stripes. Often these zebras did
not have striping on their legs. In the warmer regions the zebras had
bolder striping patterns and the stripes covered their entire bodies.
This is the first evidence that we have to show that the black and
white patterns on the zebras have to do with thermoregulation, or
maintaining body temperature.
Other research, that has yet to be
published, also investigates the zebra's body temperature. Daniel Rubenstein, one of the world's leading zebra researchers, has found
evidence suggesting that the external body temperature of the zebras
is about five degrees Fahrenheit colder than animals of similar size,
such as antelopes. These comparable animals do not have stripes but
are found living in the same areas as the zebra. This study
definitely corroborates the idea of the stripes as an important
factor in thermoregulation in different climates.
It takes a lot of research to make a
determination that is not theoretical in evolutionary biology. There
is no doubt that the prevailing theories of zebra striping do have
some relevance, but having some conclusive evidence based on a
combination of factors is welcome information in piecing together
this evolutionary puzzle.
