Moths, Moths and More Moths (Instructions)
DO NOT WRITE ON THIS PAGE
Background
Darwin thought that living things did change over time. He saw evidence
for this in fossils of animals found in South America. Many were very similar, but
not identical, to species living today. After much thought, he came up with a way
to link his observations of fossils and similar kinds of living things in different
places on earth to his views of an old, changing earth. This “Theory of Evolution
by Natural Selection” explains how living things change. It says that all living
things have more kids than can survive. It also says that no two individuals of a
species are exactly alike and that it is often hard for living things to survive.
Those individuals better suited to the environment tend to survive and reproduce.
MATERIALS
Envelope filled with 60 paper moths, 4cm by 3 cm (15 black and white, 15
colored comics, 15 black, and 15 white)
3 sheets of classified advertisements from a newspaper
3 sheets of colored comics
watch or clock
2 different colors of markers
PROCEDURE:
1. Mix the moths together in the envelope.
2. Assign the roles of “bird”, timer and materials person to each of the three
people in the group. Write these assignments and the name of the person in
that role at the top of the data page.
3. Place the 3 sheets of black and white newspaper on the floor. Have the
materials person scatter all the moths randomly over the sheets of
newspaper. The timer times for 15 seconds. The “bird” starts at a standing
position and when the timer says to start, they see how many moths they can
capture in 15 seconds. They may pick up only one moth at a time and need
to stand up straight after each moth they capture. They need to put the
captured moths in an envelope.
4. Count the moths in the envelope. Record your results in the first column of
the data table.
5. Make a bar graph of the results using one color of marker. Remember to
mark this on the key to your graph
6. A gradual change occurs in the environment. The black and white
newspaper background is replaced with the colored comic newspaper
background. The materials person needs to mix together all the moths and
scatter them randomly over the sheets of comics.
7. Repeat steps 1-4, except record the results in the second column of the data
table and draw the bar on your graph in a different color of marker.
Remember to mark this on the key to your graph.
Names______________
Data Table
Environment
Newspaper
Comics
White
# of
Moths
Black
Newspaper
Colored
Comics
Graph (Double bar graph):
16
14
12
# of
Moths
10
8
6
4
2
0
White
Black
Newspaper Colored Comics
Kind of Moth
Analysis Questions
Black and White Newspaper Environment:
1. What variations of color (different colors) were present in the population of
moths at the beginning of this activity?
__________________________________________________
2. What kind of moth did the “bird” select most often with the black and
white newspaper environment?
__________________________________________________
3. What kind of moth did the “bird” have the most trouble capturing with the
black and white newspaper environment?
4. Look at the variation of moth that had the most individuals survive. What
is the selective advantage of this variation? (In other words, how does
that variation of trait let individuals survive instead of other members of the
species?)
5. What variations of color (different colors) were present in the population of
moths at the end of the black and white newspaper part of the activity?
How many of each were left?
______________________________________________________________
6. Was there a change in the number of moths of each variation during
the black and white newspaper part of the activity? Explain, telling
which colors there were less of at the end.
______________________________________________________________
Comic Newspaper Environment:
7. What variations of color (different colors) were present in the population of
moths at the beginning of the comic newspaper part of the activity?
8. What kind of moth did the “bird” select most often with the comic
newspaper environment?
_____________________________________________________
9. What kind of moth did the “bird” have the most trouble capturing with the
comic newspaper environment?
10. Look at the variation of moth that had the most individuals survive. What
is the selective advantage of this variation? (In other words, how does
that variation of trait let individuals survive instead of other members of the
species?)
11. What variations of color (different colors) were present in the population of
moths at the end of the comic newspaper part of the activity? How many
of each were left?
________________________________________________________________
12. Was there a change in the number of moths of each variation during
the comic newspaper part of the activity? Explain, telling which colors
had less at the end.
_____________________________________________________