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Home , Camouflage, Coelocnemis

ANIMALS

Although at first glance the seems to have little in the way of wildlife, it actually contains large, diverse popu- lations. The desert environment may seem an unlikely place for to thrive or even exist. However, desert ani- mals have adapted to their environment, and each fills an important niche in the desert . ANIMALS ANIMALS

and other small animals they eat. estivate to avoid this scarcity of food. Beating The Heat Kangaroo rats and pocket mice get The activities in this section have esert animals have developed a much of the moisture they need from been designed to teach children about D variety of strategies for thriving their diet of dry seeds. Seeds stored in the animals of the Mojave Desert. All in a land of extremes. One of the most their humid burrows absorb moisture animals except one have developed common is to be active only at night, from the air. Animals utilize this moisture techniques for dealing with the often when the desert is coolest. Animals when the seeds are eaten. Kangaroo harsh desert environment. Humans, mostly active after dark are called rats also chemically manufacture water instead of adapting to the environment, nocturnal. for food and water (called metabolic water) from dry seeds often try to adapt the environment to at night also allows animals to use the as they are being digested. meet their needs. These activities will dark for protection from predators. Since Desert bighorn sheep get some of the give students ideas of what they can many desert animals are nocturnal, the moisture they need from what they eat, do to help protect the fragile desert desert may seem empty to those of us but they also have to drink water. In the ecosystem and an understanding of why who travel through during the day — all desert, water is usually found in springs it is important to do so. we see of many desert dwellers are the or rivers and occasionally in ponds and tracks they leave behind. rock pools after a rain. Because these Some desert animals are active only animals rely on this water, their territory in the early morning and at twilight. is limited. They can’t wander too far from Activity 1 , snakes, rodents, and reliable water sources. seek shelter in cool, humid burrows Camouflaged or shade themselves under rocks and bushes. Owls survive by being nocturnal, Sleeping Through It Critters eagles by soaring high above the earth nother method used by some OBJECTIVES: List two ways animals use where temperatures are much cooler. Adesert animals to avoid drought and camouflage to their benefit. Describe the Phainopeplas (a ) use a different heat is to sleep through it, just as some difficulty predators have when searching method of dealing with the summer heat; cold-climate animals hibernate through for food (camouflaged animals). Name two they migrate to cooler climates when it the winter. This dry, hot weather sleep is common Mojave Desert animals that use starts to warm up. called estivation. camouflage as an for survival. Because of their large ears, jackrabbits One well-known desert estivator is MATERIALS: Flagging tape, modeling and mule deer have the ability to radiate the spadefoot toad. Spadefoot toads clay, pictures of camouflaged animals heat. Blood vessels in their ears are can survive in underground burrows (especially those native to the Mojave located just under the , and air for months or even years, covered with Desert). flowing around them cools the blood. a jelly-like substance that keeps them This cooled blood circulates through the moist. They come out of estivation when SUBJECTS: , language , science. rest of the body, picking up more heat heavy raindrops cause vibrations in the SKILLS: Application, comparison, to carry to the ears for “disposal.” Ants, earth that wake them. They will then dig description, invention, observation, , and lizards reduce the amount to the surface, find a mate, and lay eggs writing. of heat they absorb by straightening out in the pools created by the rains. The their legs as they walk across the hot toads then burrow back into the ground METHOD: Students will compare pictures desert terrain. and estivate until it rains again. The of insects, animals, and . They tadpoles that hatch from the eggs must will observe the benefits of shape and grow quickly, before the pools dry up. protective coloring. They will then create Drinking What Only a few survive to adulthood. a camouflaged critter. You Eat Some animals estivate not only Animals are adapted to their because of heat and dryness, but environment in order to survive. For o can survive for long because of a shortage of food. Plants and instance, a horned is usually the N without water. Wood rats get their other sources of food tend to die back same color as the ground it lives on, a water by eating juicy cacti and other in the hottest and driest part of the year. desert side-blotched lizard is colored to plants that contain moisture. Snakes get Some desert rodents, , and snails look like the plants it lives on, and many the moisture they need from the mice

UNIT VII–2 UNIT VII–3 ANIMALS ANIMALS

snakes use their coloring as camouflage when they rest in the shade of bushes. Often, animals adapt to changes in GLOSSARY their by using camouflage to adapt — to fit in, to be suited for — a form of protective avoid predators. Camouflage gives the getting the things needed for survival. coloration, or acting, in which an organism the ability to blend with its adaptation — special tools for animal closely resembles another kind surroundings. survival, physical or behavioral of animal or object in its environment. 1. Introduce or review the concept of characteristics that make an organism The animal being mimicked usually has adaptation. Show students pictures of more suited to its environment. toxin which causes predators to avoid desert animals that use camouflage as it. By imitating the toxic animal, the biological — all of the other animal may avoid getting eaten. an adaptation for survival. Have students living things, both plants and animals, brainstorm types of camouflage and the living in a particular environment, niche — an organism’s special benefits of this adaptation. working together to fulfill their within its environment. 2. Mark off two different areas outside individual needs. — the natural act of animals with flagging tape. Make the two areas a camouflage — an adaptation which that kill other animals for food. short distance apart. Separate the class enables an organism to blend with its predator — any animal which hunts into two groups and assign each group environment. live animals for its food. an area. ecosystem — the interaction of the suitable arrangement — when those 3. Pass out a small ball of clay to biological community (all living things) things necessary for survival (food, each student. Instruct the students to and the physical environment (water, water, shelter, space) are accessible, go to their area and create camouflaged air, minerals). adequate in quantity, and in keeping critters with their balls of clay by using with the biological lifestyle of a . fallen sticks, leaves, or bits of gravel. environment — all those factors, Instruct the students to create critters both living and non-living, which make territoriality — a behavior pattern in that blend with their environment. Give up the surroundings of an organism. animals consisting of the occupation them about fifteen minutes to work. — the place where a plant and defense of a living space. or animal lives, an organism’s home. 4. Have group one place their critters Provides food, water, shelter, and in area one. Make sure to tell them they space in a suitable arrangement. cannot hide the critters. They must be camouflaged in their surroundings. Give them about five minutes to place their 6. Call time after ten minutes and 8. Remove sticks or rocks from the critters. At the same time, have group have both groups display their food in clay and return those items to their two place their critters in area two. Be a designated area. Hold a viewing party, natural setting. sure to emphasize that neither group can asking students to see if their clay critter watch where the other group is placing EXTENDING THE EXPERIENCE: was found. its critters. Students can write about the experience 7. Travel in a group to the and what they learned about camouflage. 5. Ask both groups to step away from undiscovered critters. Discuss with their area. Inform the students that they students why some critters were found have magically turned into birds and and others were not. What special must now find food. Ask them to hold trait or habitat helped camouflage the one cupped hand on their stomach (to critters? What animals in the Mojave hold their food). Two fingers on their Desert use camouflage as an adaptation other hand become their beak. Group for survival? Can you think of any other one will now have to find food (the types of ? camouflaged critters) in area two, group two in area one. Count to three for the food search to begin.

UNIT VII–2 UNIT VII–3 ANIMALS ANIMALS

Activity 2 Activity 3 EXTENDING THE EXPERIENCE: Have students create posters or bumper The Comforts Of Desert Homes stickers that support preservation of desert animals’ homes. Have students Home Bingo choose a natural area in or near the OBJECTIVES: Examine and list the OBJECTIVES: Identify three different schoolyard to adopt and improve as minimum requirements for human life. types of animal homes and who might a habitat for animals. Improvement Compare these requirements with those live there. State two ways animal homes of habitat can include litter pick-up, of desert animals. are inadvertently destroyed by humans. fencing against trampling, planting native vegetation, and constructing anti-erosion MATERIALS: Discovery Activity Page #1, MATERIALS: Crayons, paper. devices. pencils or wax markers. (You may wish SUBJECTS: Art, science, social studies. to consider laminating the bingo cards SKILLS: Analysis, application, discussion, so they can be used several times and drawing, inference, listing, observation. marked with wax pencils.) Activity 4 METHOD: SUBJECTS: Art, language arts, physical 1. Ask students to draw pictures education, science. Night Sounds of their own homes. Have them think SKILLS: Description, discussion, drawing, OBJECTIVES: Define the concepts of about and draw pictures of the four most listing, observation. , predation, important things in their homes. territoriality, mate-seeking, adaptation, METHOD: All animals need a home and mimicry. Provide examples of 2. Make a list of what the students of some sort. This home will usually how these physical and behavioral feel are important. Differentiate between provide them with shelter and protection adaptations allow animals to survive in needs and wants. Challenge children from predators. Different animals have their environment. to think about what is essential for different needs and, therefore, have survival. Make sure this includes food, different types of homes. MATERIALS: Blindfolds, noisemakers. water, shelter, and space. Explain that (You will need a pair of identical these must also be available in a suitable 1. Ask students to describe their noisemakers for each pair of students. arrangement. Whenever one of these homes. Identify the type of animal homes Examples of noisemakers: shakers basic needs is threatened or removed found in the area (nest, burrow, hole, and maracas, film canisters containing the animal may not be able to survive. water, crack, etc.). pebbles, rubber bands that can be 3. Show students pictures of desert 2. Give each student a bingo card twanged, whistles, bells, blocks of wood animals and ask them to draw one and marker. Take them on a short walk that can be clapped together.) through the desert. Have students find of these in its habitat. Make sure this SUBJECTS: Language arts, math, science, an animal home and name an animal drawing includes where the animal gets social studies. food, water, shelter, and space. that might live there. Place an X on the appropriate square. Play continues until SKILLS: Application, computation, 4. Compare the needs of humans with everyone gets bingo. discussion, evaluation, listening. those of other animals. 3. Conclude with a sharing circle. Ask METHOD: This game is designed EXTENDING THE EXPERIENCE: Have students to describe the most interesting to demonstrate the importance of students go outside and look for animal and unusual homes that were found. sound in such animal behaviors as homes. When a home (crack, burrow, Can they name any homes that probably communication, predation, territoriality, nest, etc.), is found, discuss what might exist in the area but were not found? mate-seeking, adaptation, and mimicry. live there and why it chose this location. Ask each student what his/her favorite 1. Spend some time familiarizing Are all of the essentials needed for desert animal is and where it lives? students with the terms listed in the survival found nearby? Would that animal be harmed if its home objectives. were destroyed? Where might it find a new home? 2. Explain the procedures of the activity to the students.

UNIT VII–4 UNIT VII–5 ANIMALS ANIMALS

3. Blindfold students and have them stand in two parallel lines at least forty feet apart. The students should be Fun Facts — SOME ANIMALS standing back to back, with their hands OF THE MOJAVE DESERT behind their backs. BIRDS 4. Walk behind each line placing one Common raven Corvus corax Black-tailed jackrabbit Lepus californicus noisemaker in each student’s hands. For Gambel’s quail Callipepla gambelii Coyote Canis latrans the first round, everyone gets something. Greater roadrunner Desert cottontail Have the participants all practice Geococcyx californianus Sylvilagus audubonii making noise with their devices. Remind Red-tailed hawk Buteo jamaicensis Desert kangaroo rat Dipodomys deserti students they will not only be making Turkey vulture Cathartes aura Desert bighorn sheep a noise, but must listen closely for the Ovis canadensis nelsoni sound of their partner. FISH Desert wood rat Neotoma lepida 5. The leader gives a signal to begin. Bonytail chub Gila elegans Townsend’s big-eared bat The participants attempt to find their Colorado squawfish Ptychocheilus lucius Plecotus townsendii “mate” by using the noisemakers. When Desert pupfish Cyprinodon spp. White-tailed antelope squirrel they find their “mate,” they should Humpback chub Gila cypha Ammospermophilus leucurus Razorback sucker Xyrauchen texanus halt, stop making noise, stand quietly AND together, and wait for the other pairs to INSECTS AND ARACHNIDS Desert tortoise Gopherus agassizii find each other. Broad-necked darkling Red-spotted toad Bufo punctatus 6. It will be easy for the last two Coelocnemis californicus Collared lizard Crotaphytus insularis animals to find each other, since they will Giant desert hairy scorpion Chuckwalla Sauromalus obesus be the only two making any sound! After Hadrurus arizonensis Rosy boa Lichanura trivirgata all the “mates” have been found, take Desert tarantula Aphonopelma chalcodes Sidewinder Crotalus cerastes off the blindfolds, return to a circle, and discuss the activity. on predators. Examples include: must option (mimicry). Did it affect the game? POSSIBLE RESULTS: capture animal within three seconds Are predators the only living things that 1:1 ratio after noise has been made; can only use mimicry? Although gopher snakes critter finds its mate capture one or two animals per game. are not poisonous, they have very 2:1 ratio Play the game again. similar coloration to , they two critters find the same mate coil up like rattlesnakes, and they have 10. After playing a third round, 1:0 ratio been observed whipping their tails in discuss how the new rules affected no mate available or mate not found dry weeds, producing a rattle-like sound. predators. What factors in limit a Why? 7. Are some animals able to find predator’s success? Conclude by having mates more easily than others? Why? If students name the most important the concept of predation does not arise factors in the survival of animals, as in the discussion, inject it briefly before presented in this game. Do skills in playing a second round. using help animals survive in Activity 5 their environment? How? 8. Have students face outward in the Birds And Lizards lines again to play a second round. This EXTENDING THE EXPERIENCE: time, one or two persons will not get a Introduce the idea of predators imitating OBJECTIVES: List two ways animals use noisemaker. They will be the predators. (mimicking) the noise sources in some camouflage to their benefit. Describe Predators can capture (touch) prey only way. This will help students to see how the difficulty predators have when after the prey makes noise. Play again. predators adapt, making it easier for searching for food (camouflaged ani- them to capture prey. The game may mals). Name two common Mojave 9. After playing a second time, discuss then be played again. Discuss this new Desert animals that use camouflage as some limitations that may be placed an adaptation for survival.

UNIT VII–4 UNIT VII–5 ANIMALS ANIMALS

MATERIALS: Pictures of Mojave Desert 2. Share the pictures of birds and liz- camouflaged animals. Have them find lizards and birds, such as roadrunners, ards with the students. These birds hunt pictures of brightly colored animals. How loggerhead shrikes, and American kes- and eat lizards (and they eat other things can they survive when they are so easily trels; rope to designate starting line; as well.) Discuss the physical and behav- seen? Are there ever any advantages to quart-size plastic bags; pipecleaners cut ioral adaptations that each animal (lizard being brightly colored? into two-inch strips (two or more strips or bird) uses to survive. For what kind of for each participant). Note: The pipe- habitat might each lizard be best suited, cleaners need to be at least three differ- judging from its coloration? ent colors. One color should blend read- 3. Divide the group into two or three Activity 6 ily into the environment — for example, equal teams, each bearing the name of a light tan for dry leaves and weeds. One lizard-eating bird. Have students line up Keeping Cool color should blend a little less well, and behind the starting line. Allow plenty of OBJECTIVES: Demonstrate the concept one color should not blend at all. Tan, space between teams. The first person in of thermo-regulation and how exother- , and hot pink are good choices. line in each team receives a plastic bag, mic (see definition in Method section) SUBJECTS: Physical education, science. which represents the bird’s stomach. animals must work to keep their body temperature regulated. Name two strate- SKILLS: Observation, psychomotor 4. Students will quickly walk, not run, gies employed by exothermic animals development. from the starting line to the lizard area, pick up the first lizard they see (they for regulating body temperature. Name METHOD: This is a simple game, easily may only retrieve one lizard at a time), two common exothermic animals of the adaptable to a variety of animals and place it in the “stomach,” and quickly Mojave Desert. environments. The game is played out- walk back to the starting line, where they MATERIALS: Fahrenheit thermometers of-doors (although it can work indoors hand the “stomach” to the next team- (each team of two needs one), sets of on a multi-colored carpet). It works best member. The leader goes to the back cardboard insects (seven insects in each if played in an area with some ground of the line. If you choose to make this a set), masking tape, scratch paper and vegetation as opposed to a bare surface. competitive game, the winning team is pencil, watch for activity leader. The game is a relay and a hunt combined the one that goes through the entire line into one. first. Note: Make insects out of colored card- Loggerhead shrikes (a bird) eat large board. Attach thermometers to colored 5. After playing one round, have the insects, small birds, mice, and lizards. cardboard. Each team needs a thermom- groups examine the contents of their When is good, it stores excess eter and insects with matching colors. plastic bags. Which color lizard was food by impaling it on thorns, cactus “eaten” the most, the second-most, and SUBJECTS: Language arts, math, science. needles, or barbed wire. Roadrunners the least? The brightly colored, non- feed on insects, scorpions, lizards, and SKILLS: Analysis, application, discussion, camouflaged lizard should be the most snakes. They usually run after their prey inference, problem solving, prediction, abundant. rather than fly. American kestrels are small group work. small hawks and include lizards in their 6. Play another round or two of the METHOD: Students will use a thermome- diet. activity. The time it takes for a team to ter to simulate a lizard. The thermometer complete a round will grow longer as it 1. Before the game begins, prepare “lizard” will have to travel to find food, becomes more difficult to hunt for the the field by scattering pipecleaners in an while maintaining a pre-determined aver- lizards. After the game is over, have stu- area approximately fifteen feet square. age temperature. dents scour the area to search for lizards Some of the pipecleaners should be eas- All animals must maintain body tem- that still might be hiding. The students ily seen, and some should hide a bit. The peratures within certain ranges to stay will be surprised at how many lizards pipecleaners represent camouflaged and active and alive. Animals can be divided they missed! non-camouflaged lizards. Don’t allow into two general groups according to the the students to observe your placing of EXTENDING THE EXPERIENCE: Have way they maintain their body tempera- the “lizards.” With a rope or by drawing students research how camouflage tures — endotherms (inside heat) and a line, designate a starting line approxi- is used by other animals world-wide. exotherms (outside heat). Mammals and mately forty feet from the “lizards.” Challenge them to find pictures of the birds are endotherms and produce heat best camouflaged and the most strangely

UNIT VII–6 UNIT VII–7 ANIMALS ANIMALS

within their bodies, allowing them to even a few degrees from 98.6°F, we can or too low. maintain a fairly constant body tempera- get sick or even die. (E) After two minutes the leader calls ture, regardless of outside temperatures. 5. Explain that unlike humans, animals out “” again, and the process is All other animals (amphibians, fish, such as lizards, snakes, and get repeated. reptiles) obtain most of their heat from most of their body heat from their sur- the environment. Many exotherms regu- (F) After all insects have been “eaten,” roundings. On hot days, a lizard’s body late their body temperatures by moving the students will gather together and dis- temperature goes up; on cold days, the into warmer or cooler spots in their cuss their lizards’ search for food. lizard’s body temperature goes down. environment. Lizards and snakes, for Introduce the terms endotherm and exo- 8. Allow the teams a few minutes to example, alternate between basking in therm to the group. place their insects around the area and the sun and resting in the shade to keep begin the game. their body temperatures within the range 6. Tell the students that they are going that permits them to stay active and to play a game in which they pretend 9. Discussion questions at the end of alive. Exotherms can also regulate their their thermometers are a special kind of the activity might be: Were you able to body temperature by burrowing and by lizard. Give a set of insects to each team. keep your lizard within the safe range? varying the angle of their exposure to the The set’s color should match the color of Did any lizard heat up or cool down too sun. their “lizard.” much? If so, what might have happened to your lizard? Did your lizard have to do PREPARATION: This game is to be played 7. Explain the procedures of the game: a lot of scurrying around to survive? outdoors and works best on a sunny, (A) Each team will place its lizard’s warm day. Find an area where two lines What might happen to a desert lizard food (the insects) in various places can be drawn about fifty feet apart. If if you took it home for a pet? How can within the activity area. Be sure some are possible, choose a location containing lizards cool off or heat up other than by placed in sun, some in shade, and some shrubs or rocks that provide shade spots moving to the shade or sunlight? How in partial shade. and some full sunlight areas. do you cool off when you get too hot? (B) Teams have about fifteen minutes What do you do now that you could not ACTIVITY: to move their lizards around as they do if your body temperature responded 1. Let the children pair up, and give look for food. The lizard can eat only one to surrounding temperatures in the same one thermometer to each team. Explain insect every two minutes. Each team way as your lizard? how to read the thermometer, then chal- watches the thermometer window at all lenge each team to find the highest and EXTENDING THE EXPERIENCE: Real liz- times to be sure the lizard does not get the lowest temperatures in the activity ards commonly burrow into the ground too hot or too cold. The top of the mer- site. to escape hot and cold temperatures. Let cury column should always be visible in the teams play another game in which 2. After about five minutes, call the the window. they can bury their lizards in order to group together. Add the highest tempera- (C) If the temperature is going too maintain the lizards’ temperatures at a ture found by the group to the lowest low, the lizard must warm up in the sun. If safe level. temperature and divide by two to find it is going too high, the lizard must cool the average temperature. down in the shade. Perhaps a partially 3. Instruct the teams to place one shaded area will be just right as the liz- piece of masking tape on their thermom- ard digests its insect and waits for the eter two degrees above the average tem- next one. The students may not use their perature and another piece of tape two own bodies as shade for the lizards. degrees below the average. (D) When the leader calls out “insect,” 4. Ask if anyone in the group has ever the teams move their lizards along the had a fever. Explain that humans and ground to the first insect. The insect other mammals produce heat inside is gathered up, and each team decides This activity is adapted from an OBIS their bodies and have a steady tempera- where the lizard will rest as it digests its activity. Copyright by Delta Education, ture regardless of outside temperatures. food. The lizard may move during this Inc. Hudson, NH 03051. Reprinted by If our body temperatures go up or down time if the temperature is going too high permission of the copyright holder.

UNIT VII–6 UNIT VII–7 Discovery Activity Page #1

ANIMALS