Animal Adaptations Project Checklist
DUE FRIDAY, APRIL 11
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CLIMATE: This planet is dark and cold most of the time.
TERRAIN: It is very mountainous.
WATER AVAILABILITY: It rains almost all day.
PLANTS: Because of the wet, dark conditions, the only plants
that grow well are small mosses and funguses.
ANIMALS: Animals on this planet include a type of mouse,
a nocturnal hunting large cat, fish, and a variety of insects.
PLANET 1
CLIMATE: This planet is dry and hot.
TERRAIN: Most of the planet is flat.
WATER AVAILABILITY: Water is found in underground streams but
there is little water on the surface of the planet.
PLANTS: Most of the planet’s surface is covered in sand, although
there are patches of dry grass.
When plants can get their roots down into the water table, they grow
into tall trees with leaves at the top but not along the trunk.
Plants which are not connected to the water table are small and dry,
but they are edible.
ANIMALS: Animals on this planet include insects, a species of birds which
roost in the high trees, a sand-colored lizard and a type of rat.
PLANET 2 th
CLIMATE: This planet is tropical: wet and hot. Most of the planet is covered by rainforest.
TERRAIN: The planet is very flat.
WATER AVAILABILITY: Water collects in large pools and lakes which have water
PLANET
in them all year ’round.
PLANTS: A species of poisonous plant grows thickly on the ground.
The spines of this plant are poisonous, and any animal which steps on one is sure to die.
The vegetation is plentiful, and includes leaves, fruits and nuts.
ANIMALS: Animals include carnivorous snakes, varieties of insects, monkeys, fish and birds.
CLIMATE: This planet has a moderate climate. It never gets very hot or very cold,
but stays mild all year ’round.
TERRAIN: The planet is partly mountainous and partly flat.
WATER AVAILABILITY: It rains for part of the year and the water forms pools and
lakes which dry up towards the end of the year and then the planet is very dry.
PLANTS: Vegetation includes tall trees with high leaves and fruit, and a smaller plant
which bears nuts. However, these nuts are inside hard shells which need to be
removed before the nut can be eaten.
ANIMALS: Animals include rats and mice which live underground, insects,
birds that nest in the tall trees, slow moving mammals which also live in the trees
and a species of carnivorous nocturnal wolf.
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PLANET 4
YOUR MISSION…
It is the future, the year 3000, and it is now possible for humans to build planets and genetically
engineer (or create) plants and animals to live on that planet. You are one of the animal scientists, and
it is your job to design and create an animal which will be perfectly suited to its environment on this
new planet. Choose one of the following environments of already created planets. Create a fictional
animal which is going to be strong and resilient enough to survive in that environment. Your animal
must FIT INTO the existing food chain – it cannot be the ultimate predator (the one which can eat
everything else and nothing can eat it).
YOUR PAPER AND ILLUSTRATION MUST HAVE…
POSSIBLE ADAPTATIONS
(not a complete list)
Name of Animal (2pts) ____________________________________________________
Home planet (2pts)_______________________________________________________
Size (2pts) and measurements (2pts) of adult animal_____________________________
Description of physical appearance (2pts)______________________________________
Coloration (2pts) of adult animal _____________________________________________
What your animal eats (2pts)________________________________________________
Adaptations/Behaviors it uses to catch food (2pts) _______________________________
Adaptations/Behaviors is uses to obtain water (2pts)_____________________________
Adaptations/Behaviors it uses to stay warm/cool (2pts)___________________________
Where it will shelter (2pts)___________________________________________________
Adaptations/Behaviors it will use to avoid predators (4pts) ________________________
List of animal(s) who hunt it (2pts)____________________________________________
List of animal(s) it will hunt (if any) (2pts)_______________________________________
*Paragraph is written in pen or typed (2pts)*
*Paragraph is neat (2pts) and organized (2pts)*
*Paragraph contains proper spelling (2pts) and grammar (2pts)*
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*Illustration/model is neatly drawn or built (2pts)*
PTS
*Illustration/model is colorful (4pts)*
*Adaptations are labeled (4pts) on illustration/model*
Claws, sharp teeth, sense of smell, long arms, talons, beaks, tusks, venom, wings, flippers, webbed feet,
lungs, gills, camouflage, night-vision, mimicry, speed, long neck, fur, feathers, skin, scales, blubber,
ability to lay eggs, ability to nurse their young, sharp sense of smell, excellent eyesight, carnivorous,
herbivorous, ability to fly, nocturnal, prehensile tail, long tongue, spines, bright coloration, long tail,
warm-blooded, cold-blooded, hooves, retractable claws, slithers, paws, shells, long snouts, 4-legged,
2-legged, lives in nest, lives in burrow/cave, lives alone, lives in pack, whiskers, endoskeleton,
exoskeleton, builds a cocoon, stripes, spots, antifreeze protein in blood to prevent freezing in cold
water, antennae, hibernation, eyelashes, humpback, opposable thumbs….