Wildlife Experience!

As part of our animal adaptation science unit, Beverly Critcher from Wildlife Experience brought wild animals to Mrs. Yollis' class for careful

scientific observation.

Wildlife Experience is a non-profit wildlife education organization that brings native and exotic animals to schools and teaches children about the importance of our natural world. Here is Ms. C., the owner of Wildlife Experiences.

Mrs. C. talked about animal adaptations. 

Here are a few photos and facts about the animals brought into our classroom.

Here is a fabulous animal adaptation post from the great Mr. Mannell. He gives permission for you to use his photos for school related projects!

 Fact:  Human hands have an opposable thumb. The thumb can work with the other four fingers to grasp and pick up items. 

Not all animals have that ability. Here the students tried to tie a bow using only their four fingers. No thumbs allowed! What did you notice? 

Meet Awesome, the Opossum

Share some facts about her in the comment section and I'll add them there! Does she have an opposable thumb? 

She is a marsupial. 

What is a marsupial? 

What are some physical or behavior adaptation of the opossum?

Meet Sally the salamander!

(amphibian)

 We got to touch her skin. What did you notice about the amphibian? 

What is an amphibian? 

NICHOLAS:  The tiger salamander is one of five types of amphibians, and in my opinion it is the cutest. It is an amphibian because it can breathe in water and land. Did you know that they are 7-14 inches long? That is about the size of a standard ruler? 

The biggest salamander in the world is the giant Chinese salamander which can grow to six feet long.That is taller than you, Mrs. Yollis! Did you know that the axolotl salamander can grow its limbs back just like starfish and lizards?

Sally likes to hide under her log.

 TEETH!

Teeth tell a lot about what an animal eats.

canines

incisors

molars

What is the difference? 

Interesting fact:

Some animals eat plants, some eat meat, and some eat both!

herbivore: eats plants

carnivore: eats meat

omnivore: eats both plants and meat

What do these types of teeth do for an animal?

Human teeth: Nice smile Mr. Bones!

Porcupine teeth

SAMANTHA: I also liked learning about the animal's jaws. I saw that the skunk's jaw was pretty small compared to the rest.

Bobcat teeth

Bobcat teeth

Turtle jaws 

 

What kind of a skull is this?  

Meet a ball python

(reptile)

DARIUS:  The ball python is found in jungles and their pattern really blends in with their natural habitat. This snake can make the bottom portion of his jaw expand for prey! 


ALLISON:  Ball pythons like to live in small warm-blooded mammal holes where they can find their prey. The like to live where there are not a lot of trees. They are from Africa.

Meet a fennec fox from Africa. 

Add caption

Photo of a baby fennec fox

Notice how those ears develop! How does this physical adaptation help this mammal? 

Aashi:  Fennec foxes are the smallest foxes, but they have the largest ears.

SAMANTHA: The fennec fox can be 23-27 inches long. Most foxes can weigh up to 8 to 11 pounds!  

Students, many of you took written or visual notes. Share your knowledge in the comment section and I'll add your facts to this post!

Use World Book Online as well.

See a Skunk and a Barred Owl!

By Matthew and Chloe

Today was the third visit from Wildlife Experience and they started the presentation talking about teeth. We learned that you can tell if an animal is an herbivore (plant eater), a carnivore (meat eater), or an omnivore (eats both plants and animals) by looking at its teeth. There are three different types of teeth: incisors for gripping food, canine teeth for ripping meat, and molars for grinding food.

Below is the skull of a bobcat. It is a carnivore...just look at those canines!

We also learned about food chains. An animal that eats another animal gets energy. The animal that is at the top of a food chain gets the most energy. Some animals, like humans, are at the top of a food chain.

The first animal Ms. C. shared was a striped skunk. Many of us were worried because we thought it would spray us! Ms. C. told us that the scent gland had been removed during a surgery, but it did not hurt the skunk.

Skunks help humans because they love to eat spiders. They get rid of a lot of black widow spiders, which are poisonous.

Here is a picture of the skunk eating!

Here she is showing us her two stripes which give her the name striped skunk.

She also brought a barred owl!

This owl hooted when she came out! She has brown eyes instead of the yellow eyes that most owls have.

Have you ever heard that owls can turn their heads all around? Well, that is not true. They have a backbone, and if they turned their head all the way around, their neck would snap. Owls CAN turn their heads two-thirds of the way around. That helps owls see because their eyes are in the front of their heads.

The ears of barred owls are asymmetrical. That means one is on the top of the head and one is on the bottom of the head. Having ears in different locations helps the owl hear predators coming from above and below.

What did you learn that you did not know?

Think about the animal you researched. Where is it on a food chain?