Wetland Wildlife and Fisheries 238 Animal Adaptations Teacher Instructions Focus/Overview Grade Level The plants and animals that live in wetlands have special Upper Elementary characteristics that help them live in these wet areas. This lesson teaches students how animals survive in their habitat Duration by adapting, or fitting in, to the environment. 50-55 minutes Learning Objectives Setting The students will: The classroom . Describe the behavioral and physical adaptations of a wetland animal Vocabulary . Relate how animal adaptations help them survive in a Adaptation specific habitat Wetland . Design the ultimate wetland animal with wetland Habitat survival adaptations GLEs Science 4th – (S1-E-A1, A3), (LS-E-A3, C1, C2) 5th – (LS-M-C3, D1) English Language Arts 4th – (ELA-1-E5, E6), (ELA-4-E2, E5) 5th – (ELA-1-M1, M3), (ELA-4-M1, M2, M4, M6), (ELA7-M1) Materials List . Wooden craft sticks (to be cut and used as teeth) . Brown towel or brown coat (teacher provides) . Swim fins . Spray bottle with oil written on the side . Gloves . Headphones (to be used as earplugs) . Nose plugs . Goggles . Musk cologne or perfume ( teacher provides) . Paddle Background Information See the General Wetlands Information at the front of the curriculum binder for more information on wetlands and the animals that live in these areas. LSU AgCenter • 4-H Youth Wetlands Program • 2013 239 A habitat is where animals live. Habitats provide food, water and shelter that animals need to survive, but there is more to survival than just what is found in their habitat. Animals also depend on their physical features to help them obtain food, be safe, build homes, withstand weather and attract mates. These features are called physical adaptations and some examples are: . The color of the fur . The thickness or thinness of the fur . The shape of the nose or ears . Horns or antlers that can be used to fight off predators . Chemicals that are sprayed from various body parts to deter predators . Animals may even be poisonous or unpleasant-tasting so that predators soon learn to leave them alone or avoid them. Many animals have developed remarkable defenses to keep from being eaten. For example, grazing animals often feed in herds for protection. When a predator attacks, the animals scatter and run in different directions to confuse the predator and allow time for the animals to escape. These characteristics are called behavioral adaptations and other examples are: . Animals never venture too far from their home in underground dens or thick vegetation; therefore, they can quickly hide when danger approaches . Animals rely on camouflage or the ability to blend in with their surroundings to hide from predators . Animals use their keen senses of sight, smell and hearing to detect danger and escape . Animals are active only at night when it is harder for predators to find them . Animals rely on trickery and copy the defenses of other animals to protect themselves. Wetlands Animals Wetlands are unique habitats that are characterized by the presence of water and saturated soils. This means that plants and animals living in these habitats must have special adaptations in order to survive there. Wetland plants must be suited for survival in soils that remain wet for most of the year. Animals that live in wetlands must have special biological and behavioral characteristics in order to live there. They must be able to use nutrients found in water, protect themselves from their enemies in a wet environment, and survive during times of saturation or drought. These animals are not able to survive in a wetland area unless they adapt or develop the skills necessary to migrate when conditions become undesirable. Here are some examples of animals that live in Louisiana wetlands and the adaptations that help them survive there: Alligator . Webbed hind feet for steering . Bulging eyes which make it look like a log . Protective, armor plated skin LSU AgCenter • 4-H Youth Wetlands Program • 2013 240 Nutria . Webbed hind feet . Eyes, ears, and nostrils are set high on their heads. Teats of the female are located high on the sides, which allows the young to suckle while in the water Crawfish . Breathe through gills . Eyes are on movable stalks to allow sight in different directions. Emit chemical cues to identify one another Louisiana Black Bear . Ability to not eat, drink, urinate, or defecate, in the winter . Claws reach up to 9-12 inches long in order to catch and maintain its diet of fish, berries, and nuts . Possess a very acute sense of smell Brown Pelican . Large bills with a flexible lower pouch that functions both as a fishing net and as a temperature regulation surface . Special air sacs under the skin on the front of its body protect the pelican from the impact of the dozens of dives it makes each day Beaver information (Read out loud to class) The beaver is the largest North American rodent and lives in every state and province in the United States and Canada. Its biological name is Castor canadensis. American Indians called the beaver the “sacred center” of land because of its ability to change the landscape by damming streams and small rivers that enables other wetlands mammals, fish, frogs, turtles, ducks and birds to thrive in the newly constructed wetland habitat. Beavers live in lodges that they build on the banks of rivers and streams from small trees and mud. First, the beaver gnaws down trees and intertwines them to construct a dam, which floods the upstream portion of the river. Beavers then build their home, or lodge, on the bank of the river with the opening to the home underwater, which helps keep them safe from predators. Beavers are great swimmers and can hold their breath for as long as 12 to 15 minutes and can swim underwater up to a mile. Beavers are often confused with another large rodent that is not native to Louisiana, the nutria. Unlike the nutria, beavers have a wide flat tail, which measures 11-15 inches long and 6 inches wide. They use their big tails like a paddle to propel them through the water when swimming and to warn other beavers of danger by slapping it on the water to raise an alarm. Adults are humped-backed and weigh an average of 33 pounds. Beavers have several features besides their tails that help them live in an aquatic habitat. They have webbed feet and special castor glands on their abdomen that produce oil that the beaver rubs onto its fur to waterproof it. Also, their ears and nose have special muscles that allow them to close these openings when underwater. LSU AgCenter • 4-H Youth Wetlands Program • 2013 241 Beavers mate for life during their third year. Both parents care for the baby beavers, called “kits,” which are usually born in the spring. From one to four kits can be in a litter. The kits normally stay with their parents for two years, and yearlings act as babysitters for the new litter. Beavers can live for as long as 19 years and can grow as long as 3 to 4 feet. During their lifetime, beavers are strict vegetarians, eating on the outer layers of many woody trees, such as sweetgum, yellow poplar and willow. In Louisiana, beavers are trapped for their fur, which is part of a fur industry that produces more than 1.3 million pelts a year from nutria, muskrat, mink, otter and beaver. Definitions: Adaptation – The ability of a species to survive in a particular habitat or niche. Any physical changes in an organism that allow it to survive a particular habitat, defend itself from prey or more easily reproduce. Habitat – The natural environment of an organism; place that is natural for the life and growth of an organism Wetland – A low-lying area that is wet year-round or during portions of the year. It is usually able to support types of vegetation typically adapted for saturated soil conditions. Advance Preparation 1. Place all beaver adaptation props in a brown bag or pillow case. 2. Place pictures of a beaver at the front of the classroom. 3. Divide students into groups of no more than 3 or 4. Procedure 1. Tell the students that today we will discuss several animals that live in wetlands and how they are able to survive living in those wetlands. Bring up the vocabulary word adaptation. Can students define adaptation? 2. Use the background information to lead to class discussion on adaptations and wetland animals. 3. Read out loud the background information of a beaver to the class. 4. Ask the students for a volunteer to come to the front of the classroom. This person will be the “new class pet,” a beaver. 5. Take out one prop at a time from the bag. Ask the students what adaptation of a beaver the prop represents. 6. If the student gets it right he or she can help the “new class pet” put on the prop. See list of correct answers for all props. You may have to help students think creatively. 7. Now that students have completely dressed their new class pet and described many typical adaptations of a beaver to a wetland, ask students to once again define a wetland. After getting several student answers, ask them to describe a wetland. You may want to write descriptive words on the blackboard. Good answers would be lots of water, sometimes salty, muddy, different kinds of plants, different kinds of animals, etc. LSU AgCenter • 4-H Youth Wetlands Program • 2013 242 8. Once students have adequately described a wetland, ask the groups to create a fictitious wetland animal.