Name: ________________________________________ Period: _____
Who’s in the zoo?
be a veterinarian
Your Objective: You are the veterinarian at a local zoo and your
prized polar bear, Arty, has fallen ill. Furthermore, he has been
unable to produce offspring with any of the females. Your task is
to determine the root cause of Arty the polar bear’s ailments.
PART I: Monitoring Heart Rate
You are concerned about Arty’s heart and decide to run some tests. The data you obtained from measuring
Arty’s pulse during various activities can be found in the chart below.
Arty’s Pulse Rate during Various Activities
Activity
Pulse Rate
Lounging in sun
70
Walking around
95
Swimming in pool
120
1. Using the data, create a bar graph below on the grid provided
below. Be sure to:

Label the y-axis. [1]

Create an appropriate scale on the y-axis [1]

Construct and shade in vertical bars to represent the data.
[1]
Arty’s Pulse Rate during Various Activities
Lounging
Walking
Swimming
1. Identify the relationship between Arty’s activity and his pulse rate. [1]
_______________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________
2. Based upon the data, you believe Arty’s heart is fine, but one of your assistants is shocked to see Arty’s
pulse rate when swimming is nearly twice the rate than when he is resting. Explain the biological reason
why this occurs and why he should not be alarmed. [1] _________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________
PARt ii: AnAlyzing ARty’s DnA
There are no records of genetic tests done at Arty’s birth. Therefore, you decide to run your own analysis and
compare Arty’s DNA with a healthy polar bear’s DNA.
Universal Genetic Code Chart
1. Use the section of the Universal Genetic Code Chart provided above and your knowledge of Biology to
complete the Genetic Information Analysis chart below.
Genetic Information Analysis [4]
Arty the Polar Bear
DNA Sequence
TTA TGG TTT TCA
Healthy Polar Bear
DNA sequence
TTG TGG TTT TCA
Transcribe the DNA into RNA
Transcribe the DNA into RNA
Translate the RNA into an amino acid sequence
Translate the RNA into an amino acid sequence
2. Identify the type of mutation that occurred in Arty’s DNA. [1] ______________________________________
3. Based upon the data, does it appear Arty has a genetic disorder due to a defective protein? Why or why
not? [2] ________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________________________________
PART III: is ARty’s Diet making him feel ill?
1. When Arty first came to your zoo, you were unsure exactly what to feed
him. Therefore, you did a field study in which you observed polar bears in the
wild and monitored their diet. In your investigation you determined the sun
provided energy to phytoplankton, which began the food chain. The
phytoplankton were then consumed by herbivorous zooplankton which were
in turn eaten by arctic cod and flounder fish. Ringed seals ate the giant artic
cod. You observed polar bears eating arctic cod, flounder fish, and ringed
seals. In the space provided below, construct a food web to illustrate the
transfer of energy you observed in this ecosystem. Don’t forget to include the
original source of energy! [2]
2. A diet of seals would be very costly for the zoo, so it was determined that Arty would be fed flounder fish
and artic cod. Zookeepers discovered very early on, however, that Arty was allergic to flounder fish! Explain
Arty’s allergic reaction and in your response, be sure to:
 Identify Arty’s body system responsible for the allergic reaction [1]
 When an allergic reaction is triggered, identify the substance released by the cells of the system [1]
 Explain how it is possible for Arty to be allergic to flounder fish but not arctic cod [1]
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
3. Since Arty is allergic to flounder fish, your zoo ships in Artic Cod from the Baltic Sea. You begin to wonder if
there have been studies to determine the level of pollution in the Baltic Sea and decide to call a marine
biologist friend to find out. You are saddened, but not surprised, when he says, “The Baltic Sea is almost
totally surrounded by land and therefore more endangered by pollution than other marine areas. The sources
of marine pollution come from household and industrial waste. These wastes end up directly in the sea or run
into the sea via rivers. Furthermore, pollutants end up in the water cycle due to traffic and agriculture.” The
marine biologist also tells you he has found pollutants at a level of ~0.14ppm in the phytoplankton species
living in some areas of the Baltic Sea.
Explain why phytoplankton containing even small amounts of pollutants could lead to an even bigger problem
for Arty. [1] ________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________________________________
Why cAn’t ARty RePRoDuce?
4. You now have reason to believe that Arty’s diet is contributing to his illness. However, this does not explain
Arty’s inability to reproduce. You hypothesize the pollutants found in his diet may be causing mutations in his
gametes and decide to examine his sperm under a microscope. The image provided below is what you see.
It appears that some of Arty’s sperm have abnormalities.
Many of the cells have two heads! Explain how this could lead
to Arty’s infertility. In your response, be sure to:
 Explain why only mutations in gametes can be
passed on to offspring. [1]
 Explain why having a sperm with two heads is
particularly problematic in terms of amount of
genetic material [1]
__________________________________________
__________________________________________
__________________________________________
__________________________________________
__________________________________________
__________________________________________
__________________________________________
__________________________________________
__________________________________________
__________________________________________