Ecology Week 2: M&M Survival Challenge
Introduction
Q: What is our theme for this quarter?
A: Ecology.
Q: What did we learn about last week?
A: Food webs. A food web is a picture of what different animals and other organisms eat in an
ecosystem.
Q: Did all the animals we put in our food webs last week eat plants?
A: No, many of them ate both plants and animals (omnivores) or just other animals (carnivores).
Q: What do we call an animal that eats another animal? What about an animal that gets eaten?
A: A predator eats another animal. The prey is the animal that gets eaten.
Q: Do you think animals want to be eaten? How might they avoid this?
A: No, animals generally try hard to avoid being eaten! Some strategies for avoiding predators include:
weapons and armor (claws, spines, plates/scales), moving fast, tasting icky, and hiding/blending in to the
environment.
Q: What is it called when an animal blends in well to its environment?
A: This is called camouflage . An animal has good camouflage if its markings (e.g., stripes or spots) or
color match its environment.
Q: Do you think an animal with camouflage would survive better or worse than one without
camouflage?
A: Better, because it wouldn’t be as likely to get eaten! Camouflage is an example of an adaptation,
meaning a feature or behavior that makes a species more able to survive in a particular environment.
Today’s Lesson:
Today, we will test how adaptation and survival work by putting “prey” in different habitats and seeing
how well predators can hunt them in each. Our prey are going to be M&M candies, and our predators
will be the students. Remember, kids are the natural predators of M&Ms!
You will hunt for the M&M's in different-colored "habitats" to test whether some M&M's do better in
some habitats than others. Then you can discover which M&M's are best suited to survive in each
habitat.
Materials

Colored paper or trays (6 large). One piece each of white, blue, brown, red, yellow, green. The
color of the paper should match the color of the M&M's as closely as possible.

Plastic baggies (6 per group)

M&M's (2 23.1-oz packages; you will only need five of the six colors)

Stopwatch

2-4 volunteer predators who like to eat M&M's
Lesson Prep
1. Prepare six groups of "prey" by counting and placing equal numbers of M&M's into separate
plastic baggies. Place 20 M&M's of each color into each baggie: 20 brown, 20 red, 20 yellow, 20
green, and 20 orange. There should be a total of 100 M&M's in each baggie.
2. Prepare different "habitats" with six large pieces of paper in a series of different colors up to the
number of groups: white, blue, red, yellow, green, or brown. If you have small sheets, you may
want to tape together four sheets of paper to make one large piece for each color.
Experimental Procedure
Basic Lesson: Camouflage and Survival
1. Gather together a pack of 2-4 volunteer "predators” (students).
2. Explain the rules of the game to your predators:
"First, I will pour one bag of M&M's on a colored sheet of paper. Then I will set the timer for 10
seconds.
When I say go, I will start the timer and all of you will pick up and eat the M&M's until the timer
beeps. Your goal is to eat as many M&Ms as possible. You may only use two fingers to pick up
the M&M's, and your other hand must be behind your back.
When the timer beeps, stop eating. I will count the number of M&M's of each color that are left.
Then you will repeat it again for the rest of the colors of paper."
3. Before we try the experiment, we will make hypotheses – predictions about the results, just like
we did last week for our radish seeds. Have students fill in the table with a simple prediction
about what will happen to the M&Ms in each of the environments.
4. Now, put the first habitat down in the middle of your group of predators. Make sure everyone
can reach the paper.
5. Pour one of your bags of M&M's out onto the paper. Make sure that all of the M&M's are on the
paper.
6. Set your timer for 10 seconds.
7. Say, Go! and start the timer. When the timer beeps, everyone should stop eating M&M's.
8. Count the M&M's that are left on the paper and record the colors left in a data table in your lab
notebook, like the one shown below:
9. Repeat steps 6-10 for all of the other colored paper "habitats" your group has. (Whether your
group has all of the habitats or a subset will depend on how many kids in the overall group.)
10. Look at your data.
a. Do you notice any interesting patterns in the color of the paper and the color of the
M&M's that were eaten? Were your hypotheses correct?
b. What is different about the white "habitat" than the other (colored) habitats?
c. How do you think this same survival strategy would work in the wild?
Advanced Lesson: Adaptation and Evolution (Time Permitting)
In the wild, adaptation and evolution happen over several generations because only the fittest survive to
make new offspring. This means that, over generations, fitter animals (or M&Ms) will become more
common, while unfit ones will die out.
There is a way to roughly demonstrate this phenomenon with the M&M experiment:
1.
Pick one colored paper habitat and randomly put the contents of an entire package of M&M's
on it. (Use a smaller number of M&Ms, so that ~ half of them will be eaten by the predators.)
2. After a round of predation, as was described in steps 6-10 above, double the number of M&M's
that are left by adding a colored M&M to match the color of each M&M that is left. For instance,
if there are 4 red and 2 brown M&M's left, then add 4 more red and 2 more brown M&M's.
3. Then repeat another round of predation. How many rounds does it take to get all the same
colored M&M's?
Bibliography
Adapted by Eric & Midori (Fall 2011) from activity at:
http://www.sciencebuddies.org/mentoring/project_ideas/Zoo_p012.shtml

Armstrong, W.P. (n.d.). Photos of Ecological Adaptations #1. Retrieved December 28, 2005 from
http://waynesword.palomar.edu/lmexe10b.htm

American Museum of Natural History. (n.d.). Darwin for Kids and Families. Retrieved December
28, 2005 from the American Museum of Natural History's website:
http://www.amnh.org/education/resources/exhibitions/darwin/families/

Missouri Botanical Garden. (2005). What's it Like Where You Live? Retrieved December 28, 2005
from the Missouri Botanical Garden's website:
http://mbgnet.mobot.org/
M&M Evolution: Data Recording Chart
Habitat
Starting Number
Yellow Paper
Hypothesis:
Red Paper
Hypothesis:
Green Paper
Hypothesis:
Blue Paper
Hypothesis:
Brown Paper
Hypothesis:
White Paper
Hypothesis:
Red M&M's
20
Brown M&M's
20
Group______________________
Green M&M's
20
Yellow M&M's
20
Orange M&M's
20