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 | Name and describe some of the phyla in the Animal Kingdom |
| Name and describe some of the phyla in the Plant Kingdom |
Natural Perspective may help in an appreciation of nature and its classification.
| What is everywhere home to? |
| What percentage of the animal biomass of the world is ants? |
| Most ladybirds are carniverous. What do they eat? |
| What is an arachnid? How do they ingest food without chewing mouthparts? |
| Pick an insect - a cockroach? A beetle? Write note what is interesting about it. |
| Science terms like Class, Order, and Species can be puzzling. Pick an insect and explain how it fits into the animal kingdom. |
| What is an Entomologist? And a Coleopterist? |
Visit Gordon’s Minibeast page - an extensive source of information on insects.
| How would you care for a cockroach? |
| How would you care for a praying mantid? |
Visit the Bug Club to learn all about bugs. Bright UK site.
| Found any strange creatures around the house? |
The Orkin Exterminating Company pages should help identify that bug you found. And still on the home front, how about some insect cooking with recipes for Ants on a Log, Fly in Batter, Chocolate pretzel spiders see Insect theme food. Fortunately, these don’t use real insects, but the stories in Insects as Food do!
| How does a bee see things differently to us? |
For an insight into how the compound eye sees, and into how scientists build models visit Bee-Eye.
Find out about Monarch butterfly biology at http://monarch.bio.ukans.edu/Monarch Watch:
| What ‘order’ do butterflies belong to? |
| What features do they have in common with other insects? |
| What are the stages in the metamorphosis of an insect? |
| How long do the butterflies eggs take to hatch? |
| What does the larva do after hatching? |
| How long does the pupal stage last? |
| How long does the butterfly live for? What do migratory monarchs do? |
A very big collection of links are at this bank of Entomology Resources. The index of organisms will help locate a specific creature. See also Insect Hotlist a full page of links to familiar and obscure bugs.
| In what way are worms recyclers? |
| Describe the parts of a worms body. |
| How does Eddie the Earthworm feed? |
| How does this compare with Niles the Nightcrawler? |
| Worm World is a well presented, and fun look at these creatures. |
| How do crabs grow? |
| What is chitin? |
| Where do salmon go in the ocean? |
| Do fish breathe air? Do they sleep? Do they chew their food? |
| What is the world's smallest fish? |
Many questions are answered at the lively Fish FAQ.
| What fills the swim bladder with gas? |
| What do some fish also use their swim bladders for? |
| Do all fish have a swim bladder? In what part of the sea do these fish spend their lives/ |
| How do some plankton float themselves? |
| What do the 'cuttlebone', nautilus and seaweed do to keep afloat? |
For an article explaining how the swim bladder works see
The Ups and Down of Living in Water
The Jason Project is a major US expedition with curriculum spin-offs. See the Jason Project curriculum section for the background into investigations which ask:
| How do you measure living and nonliving characteristics of an aquatic site? |
| How does this lead to an understanding of how a habitat operates? |
| If you wanted to study sharks, what sort of a device would help attract them? |
| Why would these scientists want to survey fish? |
| Why are green sea turtles dying? |
| Why the world should care about turtles? |
| What seems to be causing the illness? |
| Why are ‘Shrimpers’ bad for turtles/ |
| Why are poachers bad for turtles? |
Turtle Trax is dedicated to marine turtles.
| Magnify the frog image and remove the skin. |
| Identify the stomach, liver and heart. |
| Identify the kidneys, lungs and intestine |
See the Virtual frog dissection kit
| Why is it that the only part of prehistoric sharks that remain is their teeth? |
| What is the role of their many rows of teeth? |
| How big was the prehistoric Great White shark? How big were its teeth? |
Visit the Electronic Prehistoric Shark Museum to find out.
| What sounds do frogs make? |
| How many types of frog are there? |
For an assortment of cross curricular frog stuff see The Froggy page. It’s mostly fun.
| How many species of bear are there? Why is a grizzly bear so called? |
| What does the grizzly or brown bear live on? |
| Why does the bear hibernate? What happens during hibernation? |
| In what ways is the Sun bears eating, hibernating and reproduction different from the brown bear? |
| From what animal is the bear thought to have evolved? |
See The Bear Den for a fairly accessible case study on the variety of life.
| Why is a carpet python so-called? |
| How and why does a python increase its body temperature? |
| What can be the affect of changing the temperature of the python’s eggs? |
| Can you tell the difference between the sound of a seal and a sea lion? |
For a project on animals, the Animal Information Database at Sea World & Busch Gardens has interesting facts about lions, tigers, parrots and more. And for many links to animal data see The Electronic Zoo
See the giraffes in the zoo using the Giraffe Cam.
| What do wolves eat and how much, in weight, do they need in a day? |
| Describe how the young pups get their meat part digested by the adults. |
| Why do wolves howl? |
| What are the cases for and against classifying the wolf as an endangered species? |
The Wolf Home Page has the information about these endangered and misunderstood animals.
Visit The Exploratorium Learning Studio, a US science museum, and…
| Compare duck call sounds and observe the shape of model ducks |
| See the model duck and predict if the sound will be higher or lower pitched. |
| What is the relationship between your vocal track and the sounds made? |
| Also see the curious cow eye dissection here. |
| What is a raptor? Name some raptors. |
| Choose a creature for your project. |
See The Raptor Centre (Endangered animals) for details about Golden Eagles, owls and hawks.
| What was the huge find made in 1858? |
| Why might people have thought that the dinosaur has lived as ‘string of vertebrae topped with a crocodile-like skull’? |
| Why was the discovery a turning point in scientific thinking? |
Read about the find of a Dinosaur Skeleton which got scientists, and the world sitting up straight.
What can you find at the Biological Resources Division of the US Geographical Survey about the lives of animals such as
| The bald eagle |
| The grey wolf |
| The giant panda |
| The giant pelican |
few pages about a campaign organisation which investigates, aims to stop deadly fishing practices and protect these creatures. the answers visit The Whale & Dolphin Conservation Society they have much to say.
| How does tuna fishing affect dolphins? |
| What does 'dolphin safe' tuna mean? |
| What is unusual about Norway's whaling practices? |
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