Gallery Search Important Facts
Diversity of Mammal Life Mammal life greatly diversified during the Dinosaur Orders Cenozoic era. All mammals are classified as being in kingdom animalia and phylum chordata.
Class mammalia is further divided into 29 orders. Animals belonging to the same
order have many features in common.
Find the extinct Cenozoic relatives be- Look at the saurischian and longing to the same order as the follow- ornithischian dinosaur pelvis forms. ing living mammals: The blue bone is the pubis. Tree sloth—Giant Ground Sloth Find Desmostylus , an extinct Elephant—Mastodon Dinosaurs are divided into two orders mammal from the Cenozoic era Armadillo—Giant Armadillo/Glyptodont based on the shape of their pelvis. (65 million years ago - present). Grizzly Bear—Short-faced Bear Desmostylus has no Beaver—Giant Beaver Find the following dinosaurs; are they living relatives. ornithischian or saurischian?
Which living mammals do scientists use to try and understand Desmostylus ? Albertosaurus —Saurischian Elephant, hippopotamus, bear, sea-lion Ornithomimus —Saurischian What comparisons can you make between the anatomy of ice age mammals and Lambeosaurus —Ornithischian today’s mammals? Plateosaurus—Saurischian Ice age mammals tended to be larger and covered in the thick hair or fur. Camptosaurus—Ornithischian How would these trends have aided survival during the ice age? Barosaurus– Saurischian Thick hair helps trap body heat and large body size supports more fat for both warmth and energy storage.
Diversity of Plant Life Find the ginkgo. Birds are Descendents of Dinosaurs
Plant life rapidly evolved Look at the pelvis on Bambi- and flourished during the raptor and compare it to the Mesozoic era. pelvis of the Great Blue Heron.
Angiosperms (flowering Circle the order of dinosaur plants) did not evolve until from which birds evolved. the Cretaceous period. Ornithischian Find and sketch the following Jurassic fossil plants: Find Bambiraptor . Saurischian
Ginkgo Cycad Horsetail Large dinosaurs like T. rex went extinct 65 mya, while birds survived. What characteristics helped birds survive? Birds were smaller, covered in warm feathers, warm blooded.
Compare and contrast other skeletal features of the Great Blue Heron and the Bambiraptor . Many possible answers.
Similarities Differences
Hollow bones Bambiraptor has long tail What reproductive structures do you see on plants like ferns, Long arm and hand Bambiraptor has teeth cycads, and conifers? Ferns have spores; cycads and coni- Feathers Heron has keeled sternum fers both reproduce using cones which contain seeds.
What advantages do angiosperms have over non-flowering plants? Angiosperms produce fruits/nectar to attract pollina- At the far left is Hesperornis , an extinct flightless bird. tions that spread pollen and seeds, while other plants rely on All that remains of its “wing” is a vestigial bone. It was a wind, water, or gravity to disperse their pollen and seeds. specialized diving bird something like penguins today.
Birds and Hands-On Biodiversity Level 2
Gallery Search Important Facts
Adaptations to Flight Sexual Dimorphism in Birds
Birds have evolved many features Sexual dimorphism is the differences in form for a life of flight. between males and females of the same species.
Search to find four features that Find the following birds in the gallery, and using help support flight (open drawers). the descriptions provided, circle whether our Vertebra fused into a rigid column, specimens are male ♂ or female ♀. Keeled sternum for muscles Light skull without teeth Wild Turkey Hollow bones to reduce weight ♂ feathers are red, purple, green, bronze Find the Common Loon. ♀ feathers are brown
Of today’s animals, feathers are unique to birds and serve many Magnificent Frigate Bird functions. Look around the gallery (open drawers) and list three different functions of feathers. ♂ scarlet red throat patch Insulation, streamline the body, lift and propulsion, camouflage or ♀ white breast mate attraction. Canvasback Duck Unlike other flying birds the Common Loon has solid bones! So ♂ red head, black breast, whitish body does the Ostrich. This is an example of convergent evolution. ♀ head and body are brown
Why did the adaptation of solid bones evolve in these species? Why might the males and females of a species The Ostrich evolved from other flightless birds. Hollow bones were have different feather colouration? Males use lost because they were not needed. Although the Common Loon can brightly coloured feathers to attract females. His fly it has solid bones to make diving easier (make it less buoyant). colour is an indicator of his health and strength.
Invasive Species
Invasive species are non-indigenous plants and animals that have harmful effects on the habitats where they have been introduced. Many invasive species in the Great Lakes arrived in ballast water discharged by ships from around the world.
Locate the following invasive species. Sketch or describe them, and explain how they might harm Find the Great Lakes Marsh and the live fish tank. Inside the the local habitat into which they were unwittingly tank is the Round Goby. Nearby you will find other invasive introduced. species.
Sea Lamprey Purple Loosestrife Attacke key predator spe- Grows in a thick monoculture cies, disrupting the food and excludes native plants. web. In our lakes it has no Plants clog irrigation and predators and its prey lack drainage ditches. defenses against it.
Zebra Mussel Round Goby Compete with native species Aggressive fish that outcom- for food, change normal en- petes native fish and eats the ergy cycle within water col- eggs of larger sport fish. umn, accumulate contami- Eats zebra mussels and can nants in tissues, cover all further accumulate contami- hard surfaces. nants in their tissues.