Natural Science: Animal Habitats

Natural Science: Activities done after the visit to Temaiken, a theme park.  That experience has motivated us to get involved and participate in Piie Proyect.


Trabajo realizado en conjunto con la Escuela 4 DE 4.
Visit their blog: http://seresvivos4del4.blogspot.com/


We've worked on these scale models with 6th Form "A". These models represent the natural habitats where animals live.

POLAR REGIONS: ANTARTIC - ARCTIC

JUNGLE

FOREST

LAKE

MOUNTAINS

OCEAN

Description

The animals described below were chosen by the 6th "B" year students during their visit to Temaiken, a zafari park (2008). Here you will find the most interesting and appealing species:

Group 1: Meerkat (Suricata)

Where are they? Southern plains of Africa
Where do they live? These mammals live in burrows about 3 metres approximately.
Characteristics:
Size: 50 cm.
Weight: 1 kg approximately.
Lifespan: The meerkats that survive the longest are the dominant females. Between 6 - 11 is the life span of a meerkat.
Diet: Omnivore. Insects, spiders, snails. Also rodents, ground nesting birds and their eggs, lizards, certain bulbs and roots.
Range: They inhabit portions of South Africa, Botswana, Zimbabwe and Mozambique, extending from the south west arid biotic zone and eastward into neighboring southern savanna and grassland areas.
Young: They have 1 to 5 pups. Colonies from 2-12
Protection status: No species is known to be threatened or endangered.Cool facts: They have grey fur with black marks. They are very sociable. They bark when danger.Role in the ecosystem: Meerkats are an important link in the food web. They provide food for predators. They also take many invertebrates, probably acting as a control on their own prey populations.


Group 2: Bat (Murciélago)

Where are they? They are found in nearly all parts of the world but are most numerous in the tropics
Where do they live? In caves, crevices, hollow trees, or attics.
Characteristics:
Size: Bats are divided into two sub-orders: Megachiroptera, meaning large bat, and Microchiroptera, meaning small bat. The largest bats have 1,20 m. The bodies of the smallest bats are no more than 2,54 cm long.
Weight: 14 gr to 1.5 kg
Lifespan: Most bats live longer than most mammals of their size. The longest known lifespan of a bat in the wild is 30 years for a little brown bat.
Diet: insectivores, consuming enough insects to affect the balance of insect populations. Others feed on fruit, pollen, nectar, or blood (vampire bats).
Range: Bats can be found almost anywhere in the world except the polar regions and extreme deserts
Young: Thay have one pup. Females of most species bear a single young in the summer of each year.
Protection status: Twelve species of bat are listed as endangered, and one as threatened.
Cool Fact: winged mammal of the order Chiroptera, which includes 900–1,000 species. The life span of some bats is 20 years in captivity.Role in the ecosystem: Bats significantly reduce insect damage to plants. They can be more effective pest control agents than birds.



Group 3: Shark (Tiburón)
Where are they?Sharks are in the open ocean, in coral reefs and in shallow seas.
Where do they live?They live in oceans.
Characteristics:
Size: 3,7 - 5 metres
Weight: Up to 1,900 kgLifespan: 30 years or more.Diet: Fish, dolphins, seals and sea lions.Range: Cool coastal waters throughout most of the worldYoung: 2-14 pupsProtection Status: VulnerableCool Facts: There are over 350 species of sharks. A great white shark can sense blood in water up to 5 km away.Role in the ecosystem: Sharks play an important role in the ecosystem because they maintain an ecological balance.