Name_________________________________
Date____________________ Period_______
Lab- Gestation Period in Animals
The period of time when a female mammal carries their unborn baby in
the uterus is called the PERIOD OF GESTATION. The young of many
animals need no care from their parents. As soon as they are born, they can
move about freely and find food. The young of other animals need help and
care for some time after birth. In general, there is usually a relationship
between animal size, number of offspring produced and length of gestation.
The purpose of today’s lab is to graph the data given of various animals
to determine how these characteristics are all related.
Materials:
Graph paper
Ruler
Notebook paper
Procedure:
pencil
chart of gestation periods
1) On notebook paper, arrange the animals in order from the SHORTEST to LONGEST
gestation period.
2) On the back of your notebook paper, arrange the animals from MOST to LEAST # of
offspring produced.
3) You are now going to make ONE bar graph comparing all of this data.
4) Set up the graph as follows:
- tape 2 pieces of graph paper together horizontally
- start your graph 4 squares up and 4 squares over from the bottom
LEFT corner
- label the X axis ANIMALS
- label the Y axis # of offspring/Gestation period (weeks)
- on the X axis, mark off 2 boxes for each animal
- put the animals on the X axis in order of gestation period
(use list!)
- on the Y axis, # from 0-90 in increments of 3 (3, 6, 9, 12, etc.)
- put a title on the graph
5) You are going to graph the animals to their # of offspring produced AND gestation
period in weeks. You will have TWO bars per animal.
6) Pick a color for the # of offspring bar and another color for the gestation period bar.
Make a key to distinguish these.
Name_________________________________
Date____________________ Period_______
Analysis and Conclusion Questions:
1) Look at the graph. What happens to the number of offspring produced as the gestation
period INCREASES?
2) Which animal had the SHORTEST gestation period?
3) Which animal had the LONGEST gestation period?
4) What animal produced the MOST amount of offspring?
How long was the gestation period?
5) What is the gestation period of a human?
6) What animal has a gestation period that is HALF of a cow’s?
7) Look at the graph. What can you conclude about the size of the animal and how it
relates to the # of offspring produced?
BONUS:
Determine how many offspring each animal COULD produce in a period of 2 years (104
weeks). HINT: Calculate the # of pregnancies the animal could have in 2 years (104
weeks/period of gestation in weeks). Multiply the number of pregnancies by the # of
offspring that animal produces. SHOW YOUR WORK!
REMEMBER: Less than a full pregnancy will not count as one that could produce offspring.
Hamster
Mouse
Cat
Dog
Whale
guinea pig
sheep
deer
human
armadillo
cow
horse
elephant
chimpanzee
giraffe
bear
lion
opossum
zebra