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Life Cycles Field Trip Package

Table of Contents

Package Overview 1 - 3 Life cycles at the 16

Information Guide 4 - 6 Life Stages Worksheets: frog, 17-19 beetle, kangaroo

Parents versus Offspring 7-10 Animal Crossword Puzzle 20-21

Are You My Mom? 11-12 Animal Word Search 22

Field Research Notes 13 Map the Life Cycle 23-24

Animal Babies 14-15

Description Students will learn about different animal life cycles here at the zoo, such as mammals, birds, amphibians, and insects. Students will explore concepts such as the differences between metamorphic and non-metamorphic life cycles and how these relate to similarities and differences in offspring versus their parents. In addition, students will discover how climate change can affect the life cycle of animals across the world in several ways.

This package contains a variety of different activities and resources that educators can use to enhance students’ learning with regards to animal life cycles. There are also activities included that educators can print out and use during their field trip to the Greater Zoo, as well as pre and post field trip activities for grade 2.

Links to the New BC Curriculum Grade 2 • Living things have life cycles adapted to their environment (Big Ideas) • Metamorphic and non-metamorphic life cycles of different organisms (Content) • Similarities and differences between offspring and parents (Content) • Demonstrate curiosity and a sense of wonder about the world (Curricular competencies) • Observe objects and events in familiar contexts (Curricular competencies) • Ask questions about familiar objects and events (Curricular competencies) • Compare observations with predictions through discussion (Curricular competencies)

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Preparing for the Program Location: In the primary years, this will be many students’ first visit to the zoo, and feeling prepared will help ease any anxiety some younger students may have about visiting a new place. These are some things that teachers should review with their students prior to and upon arrival at the zoo. ● Where the zoo is in relation to your school. ● Duration of the trip to the zoo and mode of transportation to the zoo. ● Designated meeting place set out at the zoo in case any adult or student gets separated from the group, and point this out on the map upon arrival.

Vocabulary: Before attending the zoo, students should be aware of the following words as they may be used during the program. ● Carnivore: an animal that only eats other animals. ● Conservation: the protection of plants and animals who are facing threats in the wild. ● Egg mass: a group of eggs laid at one time; often held together by a sticky substance. ● Exoskeleton: a rigid body covering that acts to protect the animal and give it form. Often found in invertebrates, such as insects and arachnids. ● Fledgling: the life stage of a bird in which it is ready to leave the nest. ● Froglet: the name for a frog when it is going through metamorphosis; characterized by looking like both a tadpole and an adult frog. ● Habitat: where an animal lives to find food, water, shelter, and space. ● Herbivore: an animal that only eats plants. ● Larval: the name for a metamorphic insect when it is in its first life stage. ● Life cycle: the sequence of stages an animal, or plant, goes through from birth to death. ● Life span: how long it takes for an animal to complete its life cycle. ● Metamorphosis: the process of transformation from an immature form to an adult form in two or more distinct stages. ● Omnivore: an animal that eats both plants and animals.

Dressing for the weather: There are not many indoor or covered areas at the zoo, so it is important to dress for the weather. ● If raining: waterproof shoes and jackets are necessary. Umbrellas are optional. ● If sunny: sunscreen, hats, and water bottles are necessary.

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Safety Guidelines: Here at the zoo, we want you to have fun, but our priority is the safety of our visitors and animals. These guidelines will help keep you and the animals safe. ● Do not feed the animals. ● Do not touch the animals. ● Do not climb the fences.

Pre-Field Trip Activities ● Teachers may use the Information Guide in this package to help introduce certain terms that may be used during the Super Senses Program at the zoo. ● Use the worksheets to provide background information prior to the field trip to the Zoo.

During Field Trip Activities ● There are three different Scavenger Hunts: the North American Route, African Route, and the Asian Route. Answers can be found on the signs at each animal’s enclosure. These printable Scavenger Hunts can be found on our website. ● Students can use the Field research note worksheet to discover more about an animal of their choice, by learning some basic facts from our signs and use what they’ve learned thus far to make predictions about the animal’s life cycles.

Post Field Trip Activities ● Use the Scavenger Hunt to determine how the animals from all over the world vary in their life cycles. ● Use what students learn during their program to complete various activities about life cycles. See exercises Are you my mom? and Map the Life Cycle of . ● Students use the information they have learned about the animals at the zoo to complete the crossword puzzle.

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Information Guide Different types of animals can be found all over the world. Because of the variety of different habitats and climates on the planet, animals in different areas of the world cannot be exactly the same and must look and behave differently to survive. The type of life style that would work in the Arctic, where it is cold with not many plants, would not work for an animal living on the savanna of Africa, where it is warm with a variety of different plants. Animals all over the world have adapted differently to suit their habitat. This means they have also adapted a certain life cycle to suit their habitat.

An animal’s life cycle is the sequence of events they go through from birth to death. Each of these events, or changes, is called a life stage. As humans, we go through a life cycle too, with different life stages. First, we start as a baby, then we become a toddler, then a child, then a teenager, then an adult, and finally a senior. The length of these stages can be different for each animal – some animals grow quickly and spend most of their life as adults while some spend most of the life in their young life stages and only spend a short amount of time as adults.

Sometimes the length of these stages is determined by the environment. Frogs start out as tadpoles, but they cannot stay in this life stage for long because the water they live may dry up in the late summer. For sockeye salmon, they spend most of their life as non-breeding adults out in the ocean. Their last life stage as breeding adults, takes place in freshwater streams. Since they are not adapted for freshwater, they die due to the environment, and are in their final adult life stage for a few weeks at most.

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Some animals have a very unique life cycle that involves a process called metamorphosis. This means they have a life stage where their body transitions from being a young animal to an adult. Sometimes this change involves the shape of their body, where they live, or what they eat. Because they go through this big change, young animals that have a metamorphic life cycle do not look anything like their parents.

Quite a few animals on the planet have metamorphic life cycles: jelly fish, ants, butterflies, beetles, bees, moths, frogs, salamanders, and some fish such as lampreys. All of these animals have slightly different life cycles and life stages depending on their environment, but all of them go through metamorphosis at some point in their life; changing from one type of body shape and behavior to another. Mentioned earlier in this guide were frogs; female adult frogs lay eggs in the spring which eventually hatch into tadpoles. These tadpoles live in the water, therefore they have gills and tails, and eat aquatic plants. Once they grow large enough, they go through the metamorphic stage of their life cycle where they become froglets. In this stage, the tadpoles begin to develop legs and the tail shortens. Eventually they look like an adult frog, who live mainly on land, breathe with lungs, and feed on insects.

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Many animals on the planet have non-metamorphic life cycles, meaning they do not go through a life stage where their body goes through a large change. This isn’t to say young, non- metamorphic animals don’t change, it just isn’t as dramatic or fast as with metamorphic animals. In non-metamorphic species, the parents and offspring will look similar and it can be easy to tell they are related. However, there are usually some things that are missing on the offspring that the parents have; such as a rhino mom having a horn while her calf does not or how a baby duck’s feathers are a different color and feel than their parents.

Non-metamorphic animal life cycles have different life stages as they develop. As the animals go through these life stages, they will slowly begin to develop to look more like their parents. For example, when are born they are called cubs and the males have no mane. As they move to their next life stage as sub-adults between the age of 1-3 years old, the males slowly begin to grow the mane, and will continue to do so even when they become adults.

Unfortunately, the changes happening to our planet are having an effect on animal’s life cycles. Because of rising temperatures, ponds are drying up too fast to give tadpoles the chance to go through metamorphosis, birds are having to lay their eggs earlier in the year, and butterfly caterpillars are struggling to find food at the right time of the year due to shifting plant growth.

However, we can help these animals survive by doing our part. Some ways that we can help is to always Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle. By making sure that we always follow the 3R’s, it can have a large impact on animals all over the world.

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Parents Versus Offspring Look at the pictures of each animal parent and their offspring, list the similarities and the differences for each animal

Animal Similarities Differences 1) Ne-ne

2) Scimitar Horned Oryx

3) Musk Ox

4) Squirrel Monkey

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Parents vs. Offspring – answer key 1) Ne-ne a. similarities: beaks, wings b. differences: colours, parent is bigger, baby has fluffy feathers 2) Scimitar Horned Oryx a. similarities: ears, body shape b. differences: colour, parent is bigger, baby doesn’t have horns yet 3) Musk ox a. similarities: fur color b. differences: parent is larger, baby doesn’t have any horns 4) Squirrel Monkey a. similarities: fur color b. differences: parent is larger, baby doesn’t have as much fur on their head

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Are You My Mom? Look at the picture below; is this a parent and their offspring? They share some similarities don’t they! Write below two things you notice to support whether you think they are family members or not.

These animals (are / are not) parent and offspring to each other because: ______

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Are you my mom: answer key These animals are not parent and offspring, but 2 completely different species! On the left is a rabbit and on the right is a mara, a rodent that is closely related to a guinea pig, but not a rabbit!

Some similarities: big ears, fur covering body Some differences: mara have longer legs, shorter ears, bigger eyes, longer face. Rabbit has a tail, big back feet

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Field Research Notes

Animal Name:

Physical Appearance: Animal Illustration: Weight: ______

Length:______

Colour: ______

Diet:

Geographic Location: Is this a metamorphic or non- metamorphic animal?

Do you think the offspring of this animal looks similar or different from the parent?

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Animal Babies Guess the name given to the baby animal (eg. Dog – Puppy)

1) Bee

2) Deer

3) Goose

4) Goat

5)

6) Frog

7) Fish

8)

9) Monkey

10) Kangaroo

11) Bear

12) Cow

13) Ostrich

14) Wolf

15) Tiger

16)

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Animal Babies – Answer Key 1) larva 2) fawn 3) gosling 4) kid 5) calf 6) tadpole 7) fry 8) owlet 9) infant 10) joey 11) cub 12) calf 13) pup 14) peachick 15) cub 16) foal

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Life Cycles at the Zoo At the zoo, lots of animals that have different life cycles, some being metamorphic and some being non-metamorphic. Using what you know about the bold terms above, can you determine if the animals have a metamorphic or non-metamorphic lifestyle. On the second line, fill in whether the baby and the parent of each species looks the same or different. Since you may not have seen these animals, ask your classmates for help!

Squirrel Monkey: ______

Oregon Spotted Frog: ______

Kangaroo: ______

Cockroach: ______

Peacock: ______

Taylor’s Checkerspot Butterfly: ______

Red Fox:______

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Life Cycle Stages – Frog

Number the life stages in order 1-4 and label each stage.

tadpole egg frog froglet

carnivores tadpole’s amphibians metamorphosis

Frogs are an example of an ______. They lay eggs which hatch into ______. Before the tadpoles become frogs, they go through ______. Once they are adult frogs, they eat insects and no plants, so are called ______.

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Life Cycle Stages – Darkling Beetle

Number the life stages in order 1-4 and label each stage.

larva egg beetle pupa

metamorphic insect pupa eggs Beetles are a member of the ______family. They have a ______life cycle. The darkling beetle mom lays her ______underground. The metamorphic stage of their life cycle is called the ______.

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Life Cycle Stages – Kangaroo

Number the life stages in order 1-4 and label each stage.

adult advanced joey joey baby

pouch drinks mammals

Kangaroos, like us, are ______because they are covered in fur and give birth to babies. A kangaroo baby lives inside its mother’s ______. While kangaroo baby is growing it ______its mothers milk.

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Animal Crossword Puzzle

Word Bank

Camel Flamingo

Lion Lynx Ostrich Red Panda Tiger

Across Down

2. I have stripes on my skin and I can grow 1. Although I am a bird, I cannot fly. bigger than a . 3. I eat for around 20 hours a day. 6. I look tougher if my mane is big. 4. Bamboos make up 98% of my diet. 8. I am the world’s fastest four-legged animal. 5. I can hold my breath underwater, but I 9. Eating shrimp and krill turns me pink. cannot swim. 10. I have humps on my back that stores about 36 7. I have large paws that help me stay on top of kilograms of fat. the snow.

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Answer Key

Across Down

2. I have stripes on my skin and I can grow 1. Although I am a bird, I cannot fly. Ostrich bigger than a lion. Tiger 3. I eat for around 20 hours a day. Giraffe 6. I look tougher if my mane is big. Lion 4. Bamboos make up 98% of my diet. Red Panda 8. I am the world’s fastest four-legged animal. 5. I can hold my breath underwater, but I Cheetah cannot swim. Hippopotamus 9. Eating shrimp and krill turns me pink. Flamingo 7. I have large paws that help me stay on top of 10. I have humps on my back that stores about 36 the snow. Lynx kilograms of fat. Camel

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Animal Word Search

D A B G R H B P E I E V X Z W J E O M P A N E K E Z L D U R B D S D X R U L S M F P C B Y V M M Q F Z T O Q L X O C Z N F Q G Z K F G X X W Q R A T T A N I G B O P C G G U H O X F D W O S T R I C H Z U H D G M F I J X Z K Z R U B G Z A L N U D A Y X T B U E E A P B B C X C Z W U D O C F O R J W Q G N J S C F R T S J D K H R V H L V S A G D K X C P K O V K A L T Z Z N R B F S N D C M B R Y T Q A A K Q N O U O A O H J Z U C P G H B N Y G I Q R K F A A V S R D V H S U M A T O P O P P I H O B N Q Y Z O U K N N S Z P A U N L V X E J P W D T P O A U A W P O S S X T W Y R U S U N G C X T Z C N N U T E W U R S G N H C Y B O B F H A T E E H C S N U J K I F W Z I Y O D A L N V J R K R D E E R C N I F U R G R W Z L T J V I P S K R A W B W R C A B P W Q N N F L O W N O J O M I U K T E N E H P B P W M I U W S Z F W U N A N M A G K E C B F Z W F R S V B H T E L A N D P G D V V N V W I B X M F Y V Y T F S E H H N W P P L A B D O I E B A Z G Y T C J L S Q N W P E T Z U Y J P Z J E P A S S K O S A N O Z Z B Y X D V S V E A B G G L G B J I C F N K W H O D G Y A X E U W K V S K L R U O N O G E T A C Z C C C B Z G G V P J W S R K A H O X J Q Y O A U A L I M K M P X J S M C P Y T H O N N G L M M R D V A R I X K P T F M S A N S O Q V Z R F R O G Z A U

OSTRICH BABOON LION TIGER ZEBRA

ELAND STORK MACAW BEAR CHEETAH

LYNX DEER CARIBOU FOX

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Map the Life Cycle: Bald Eagles

Using the pictures below, map out the life cycle of a bald . For these birds there are 6 life stages: the mother lays the eggs, the eggs themselves before hatching, hatchlings, fledglings, juveniles, and adults. See if you can put the pictures in the correct order!

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Bald Eagle Life Cycle

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