Maintaining a Balance - Taronga Zoo · PDF fileThe ‘Maintaining a Balance’...
Transcript of Maintaining a Balance - Taronga Zoo · PDF fileThe ‘Maintaining a Balance’...
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Zoo Education is a
partnership between:
Maintaining
a Balance
Biology – Stage 6
© Taronga Zoo Education Centre 2015 These sheets may be reproduced for teaching purposes. Permission to reproduce them for other purposes may be obtained from Taronga Zoo Education Centre.
Maintaining a Balance
Zoo Education
Taronga Zoo – Stage 6 Education Resource 2
This resource is to be used as part of an excursion to Taronga Zoo. The
resource and related workshop is linked to the NSW School Curriculum and has
been developed in consultation with Department of Education and Training
Curriculum Coordinators and NSW School Teachers. It is a comprehensive kit of
information and activities designed to ensure maximum benefit to you during
your excursion to Taronga Zoo.
Contents
Introduction 3
NSW School Curriculum Links 3
Excursion Options 4
Prior Knowledge and Experience 4
Pre-visit Activities 5
At the Zoo 6
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NSW School Curriculum Links
Stage 6 Biology
9.2 Maintaining a Balance
Taronga Zoo exhibits a range of animals which will enable students to develop
an excellent understanding of the adaptations animals have to maintain a
balance within the narrow limits for survival.
The activities detailed in this resource address the following syllabus related
topics:
Compare responses of named Australian ectothermic and endothermic
organisms to changes in the ambient temperature and explain how these
responses assist temperature regulation.
Analyse information from secondary sources to describe adaptations and
responses that have occurred in Australian organisms to assist temperature
regulation.
Analyse information from secondary sources to compare and explain the
differences in urine concentration of terrestrial animals, marine fish and
freshwater fish.
Use available evidence to explain the relationship between the conservation
of water and the production and excretion of concentrated nitrogenous
wastes in a range of Australian insects and terrestrial mammals.
The ‘Maintaining a Balance’ excursion to Taronga Zoo also provides students
opportunities to further develop skills in communicating information and
understanding, scientific thinking, problem solving and working individually and
in teams.
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Excursion Options
Option One
- Students present pre-prepared talks in groups to the class using an
animal and its exhibit as a visual aide
- Students take notes on provided worksheets
- Zoo Educator provides extra information and or clarification
- Hands on encounters with animals
- Student worksheet trail in Zoo grounds
Option Two
- Zoo Educator presents information
- Students take notes on provided worksheets
- Hands on encounters with animals
- Student worksheet trail in Zoo grounds
Prior Knowledge and Understanding
It would be most beneficial if students had the following prior knowledge and
understanding before their visit to the Zoo.
- the maintainence of a constant internal environment is important for
optimal metabolic efficiency
- homeostasis
- endothermic and ectothermic
- the process of diffusion and osmosis
- passive and active transport
- the role of the kidney
- the processes of filtration and reabsorption in the mammalian nephron
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Pre-visit Activity
If your class chooses Excursion Option One – ‘Student Presentations’, the
following activity must be completed before the students visit Taronga Zoo on
their excursion.
Pre-Zoo research task
During the lesson on your Taronga Zoo excursion day, your students (in groups)
will be asked to present information to the rest of their class. It is essential that
the groups come prepared with their presentation.
Divide the class into 5 groups and assign each group one of the following
animals:
- Green Tree Frog
- Short-beaked Echidna
- Shingleback Lizard
- Red Kangaroo
- Saltwater Crocodile
Groups of students are to prepare a talk (duration 5 mins), describing the
adaptations or responses of their given animal that assist with temperature
regulation and water conservation.
Things to consider:
- the talk will be presented with the actual animal in view, so reference to
the animal, its surroundings, enclosure provisions and its behaviour must
be made. Some of this cannot be pre-prepared (eg. behaviour of animal,
features of exhibit).
- Time will be given before the presentation to study the animal’s enclosure
and surroundings in order collect ‘evidence’ to support the information
being provided, eg. find kangaroo faeces, shade structures, interpret the
animal’s behaviour.
- Further information and discussion will be provided by the Zoo Educator
after each presentation.
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At the Zoo
There are two options available for this excursion:
1. Student Presentations
2. Lesson with Zoo Educator
Both options are approx 60 minutes duration and include animal encounters.
(see page 4 for details on these options)
Seal Presentation
Seals are exceptional thermoregulators, needing to cope with temperature
extremes both in water and on land. Watching this special presentation will
provide students with an excellent opportunity to extract information about seal
thermoregulation from expert marine mammal keepers.
A notes page is provided for students at the back of this rescource.
Presentation time: This presentation is subject to staff availablity. Please
contact Taronga Zoo’s Education Centre to confirm.
Excursion Worksheets
Copy the following worksheets for your students to complete in their free time at
the Zoo. The questioning is designed to have students apply their knowledge of
thermoregulation and water balance from a captive husbandry point of view.
Students will also be challenged on their ethical attitudes towards keeping
animals in captivity.
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Koala
Provide possible explanations for the koala facts given below in relation to
thermoregulation and/or water balance.
Describe features of the exhibit that assist in the thermoregulation of the koala.
………………………………………………………………………………………………
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Suggest what Zookeepers could do to avoid heat stress in koalas on a 40Cº day.
………………………………………………………………………………………………
Brain size – 0.2% of body weight
.………………………………………
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Water intake – 400ml per day
…………………………………..
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Back fur – very high insulation
Chest fur- low insulation
………………………………………
………………………………………. Posture – temperature dependant
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Activity – nocturnal, sleeps 18hrs per day
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Faeces – dry pellets
Urine – highly concentrated urea
……………………………………………
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Koala is an Aboriginal word meaning
‘no drink’
No sweat glands, do not pant
……………………………………
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Core temperature - 35-36Cº.
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Corroboree Frog
The Corroboree Frog exhibit is kept at a temperature of 5Cº. These tiny frogs
can survive comfortably in temperatures ranging from 0Cº to 30Cº. Suggest a
reason for the deliberate lowering of the temperature of the frogs’ surroundings.
………………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………………
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Changes posture when basking
……………………………………
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Lays eggs in sphagnum moss
……………………………………………
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Tadpoles hatch in winter, already with hind legs
and without gills
……………………………………………………
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Fertilised eggs rapidly enlarge as
they fill with water
……………………………………
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Uric acid is stored when the frog is out
of water
……………………………………………
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Tadpole growth-rate slows over winter months
……………………………………………………
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Black-headed Python
Many snakes are ambush predators, spending up to 3 weeks lying motionless to
fool potential prey into approaching. Give an explaination as to how a snake can
do this yet also thermoregulate so that their body temp is high enough to digest
prey.
………………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………………
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Some Australian snakes give birth to live young (the eggs hatch before they
young emerge). Hypothesize why this may be an adaptation to cope with cold
temperatures.
Behaviour - nocturnal in warm weather, diurnal
in cold weather
……………………………………………………
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Head section is black
……………………………………………………
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Incubation - coil around eggs and ‘shiver’
……………………………………………………
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Basking behaviour
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Skin is impermeable
…………………………………………………
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Found in arid conditions
Feeding – greatly reduced in cooler months
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Lacks sensory heat pits for detecting
endothermic prey
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Asian Elephant
An elephant weighing 2000000g has a skin surface of roughly 100000 cm².
A rat weighing 300g has a body surface of 300 cm².
Compare the surface area to volume ratios of these two mammals.
………………………………………………………………………………………………
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Make a general statement comparing the ability of large and small animals to
give up their heat?
………………………………………………………………………………………………
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Use this information to postulate what would happen if elephants did have sweat
glands all over their body rather than large ears.
………………………………………………………………………………………………
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Ear flapping – blood temp drops over 8Cº
as it passes through the ears
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Dust bathing behaviour
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Core temperature - 36-37Cº
Skin – 3cm thick on legs and back, paper thin
on chest and abdomen
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Throat pouch – contains stored
water which can be drawn out
by trunk
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Sweat glands only found between toes
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Skin surface area is twice as
large as needed
……………………
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250 litres of water consumed
daily
………………………
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Andean Condor
When an Andean Condor drops down to ground for feeding its body may
experience a temperature shift from l2Cº to 40Cº. How do you think Andean
Condors cope with this extreme?
………………………………………………………………………………………………
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Spreads wings in morning
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Defecates on legs in hot weather
……………………………………………………………………
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Retracts bare head into tuft of neck feathers when flying at
high altitudes
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Body temperature drops by several degrees overnight
…………………………………………………………………
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Countercurrent heat exchange in feet
…………………………………………………………………
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Birds do not sweat
Many folds of bare skin on head
…………………………………………
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Fluff feathers when cold, smooth
feathers when hot
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Maintaining a Balance
Zoo Education
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Snow Leopard
Observe the Snow Leopards and note any thermoregulatory behaviour.
………………………………………………………………………………………………
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What features of the Snow Leopard exhibit are designed to reduce the incidence
of heat stress.
………………………………………………………………………………………………
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How might these Snow Leopards cope (in terms of thermoregulation) if they
were removed from the Zoo and placed in the Himalayas tomorrow?
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Tail – 1 m long
………………………………………………………
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Fur on body – 5cm long
Fur on tail – 8cm long
……………………………………………………
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Small ears
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Fur covered toe pads
……………………………………………………………………
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Temperature - can tolerate 50 Cº
below zero
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Sheds coat annually
……………………………………………
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Altitude – 1500 - 5000 m
……………………………………………………
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Enlarged upper nasal chamber
and sinuses
…………………………..………
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Maintaining a Balance
Zoo Education
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A long way from home
Locate a Zoo animal that is originally from a location/climate markedly different
to the climate and conditions found in Sydney.
Do you feel the animal is suitable for Sydney’s Taronga Zoo? Explain.
………………………………………………………………………………………………
………………………………………………………………………………………………
Find out why the animal is part of the Zoo collection.
2. Label the animal with possible responses the animal may have had in order to cope with its new environment.
1. Draw the animal in its exhibit.
3. Label the features of the exhibit that have attempted to assist the animal’s ability to cope in its new environment.
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Zoo Education
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Zoo Education
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Seal Presentation Notes
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Short-beaked Echidna
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Zoo Education
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Red Kangaroo
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Zoo Education
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Green Tree Frog
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Zoo Education
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Shingleback Lizard
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Zoo Education
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Saltwater Crocodile