Polar Creatures Script
Generalized program outline for Grades 1-3
•
Introduction
•
Activity #1: Experiment on heat retention
o Perform experiment as written with the following modifications:
 Ask adults to help students measure the temperature of
their canisters.
 Presenter will record a few of the temperatures (1 student
per group) on a white board; presenter will record the
temperatures at the beginning and after freezing.
•
Activity #2: Animals that adopt “sleep” strategies
o Present this activity with the following modifications:
 Do not explain the dangers of freezing at the cellular level.
 Basically explain the anti-freezing abilities of amphibians
(i.e. anti-freeze).
•
Activity #3: Animals that have “adaptation”/active strategies
o Present this activity with the following modifications:
 Present the adaptations of polar bears and penguins
•
Wrap up and conclusion
•
Activity #4 – Only do if time permits
For more information on the activities, please read the program script:
These activities can only be used by clients that have leased Ends of the Earth traveling exhibit from Science North.
1
Polar Creatures Script
List of Materials
List of pictures for Polar Creatures
program
Ground hog & little brown bat
Garter snakes leaving hibernaculum
List of animals required for Polar
Creatures program
Garter snakes bunched together
Wood frog or Gray Treefrog
Wood frog
Garter snake
Chickadee & Downy woodpecker &
Great Horned Owl
Artic fox & Vole & Tunnel in snow
Snowshoe hare & Lynx
Wolf & Moose
List of equipment required for Polar Creatures program
Equipment
Electronic thermometers
Polar bear fur
Bucket containing the following:
• 2-3 magnifying glasses
• 1 closed container with penguin
feathers
• 2-3 flight feathers
• 1 bound “booklet” with pictures of
arctic mammals and penguins
Plastic bag containing the following:
• 5-6 different materials to wrap
around film canisters
• 7-8 elastic bands
Ice container with 2 blubber gloves
Empty film canisters
Tray to place canisters
Gelatine
Record sheets
Number of items
6
1
6 buckets total
6 bags in total
1 container, 2 gloves
20-30 canisters
1-2 trays
Enough per group
1 per group
p. 2 of 11
Polar Creatures Script
Introduction
Introduce oneself and tell the students that they will be spending an hour
exploring how animals have adapted to deal with cold/winter conditions. Tell
the students that they will be doing activities and “experiments” to better
understand the amazing abilities of animals.
Discuss with the students the 3 main overwintering strategies or winter
adaptations of animals:
1) Sleep ⇒ hibernation, reduced activity
2) Adapt ⇒ remain active, adaptations to the cold
3) Leave ⇒ migration, leave the cold
Explain to the students that this presentation will focus on the overwintering
strategies of animals that remain in the winter (i.e. those that “sleep” and those
that have adapted to cold conditions).
Activity #1: Experiment on heat retention
Materials
•
•
•
30-40 clear film canisters with
molten gelatine (at 30-40oC)
6 pencils
6 record sheets
•
•
•
•
6 trays
Freezer
Electronic thermometers
6 bags each containing
various
materials
and
elastics
Methodology
Before the students arrive on the floor, prepare enough molten gelatine as to
partially fill (approximately halfway) 30-40 clear film canisters. Separate the
students into 6 groups (groups of 4-6 students) and tell the students that they
will remain in groups until the end of the entire presentation. Explain to the
students that this activity will demonstrate how animals can retain bodily heat
through the use of various insulating materials (i.e. feathers, fur, blubber).
Explain that each students will be given an animal (i.e. film canister with
gelatine) which they will wrap with one piece of material and then the animal
will be placed in a frozen environment (i.e. freezer). They will then see whether
or not their animal survived based on the type of insulating material they
wrapped their animal – if the gelatine hardens in the canister, then the animal
did not survive!
p. 3 of 11
Polar Creatures Script
The following are the steps for this activity:
1) Distribute one electronic thermometer, one bag of material, one
pencil, one record sheet and one tray per group.
2) Demonstrate to the students on how to use the electronic
thermometer.
3) Tell the students that they will each have one canister and ask them
not to open the canister.
4) Have the students each take one canister, measure and record the
temperature of the canister using the electronic thermometer.
5) Using a whiteboard, you will also record the temperature of the
canister from each student or one student per group.
6) Once the students have measured the temperature of their canister,
they can wrap their film canisters with a material of their own choice.
They can only take one item and wrap it a maximum twice around the
canister. They will use the elastics to hold the material around their
canisters.
7) Ask the students to then place their canisters on their tray.
8) You will then place all trays (with canisters “as is”) in a freezer for 20
minutes.
a. Continue with the presentation and resume with this activity after
20 minutes.
9) After 20 minutes the containers will be brought out for the students to
examine. Ask the students to see whether or not the liquid has
solidified and then to determine and record the temperature of the
container.
10)Using the whiteboard, record the temperature of the canister from
each student or one student per group (same student as in step #5).
11)Ask the students to compare the temperature of their container before
and after freezing.
12)Ask the students which material retained the most heat. If some
students wrapped several containers together, ask them if this
method had helped to retain more heat.
13)Discuss with students about the heat retention abilities of materials
(i.e. air pockets, better insulators) and how several objects put
together will lose heat at a slower rate. Relate the experiment to
overwintering strategies of animals (i.e. fur, sleeping together).
a. With older students discuss the principles of convection and
conduction. [For more information on convection and conduction,
see Reference #3]
p. 4 of 11
Polar Creatures Script
Activity #2: Animals that adopt “sleep” strategies
Materials
•
•
•
Picture of Groundhog and little
brown bat
Picture of Garter snakes
leaving hibernaculum
Picture of Garter snakes
huddled together
•
•
•
Picture of Wood frog
Wood frog or Gray treefrog
Garter snake
Methodology
Ask the students to describe some of the overwintering “sleep” strategies.
Most students will mention about some aspect of hibernation – explain the
concept of hibernation and other strategies that animals have adopted in order
to lower their metabolism as to survive cold conditions. Use the following
examples for your discussion:
1) Several animals such as ground hogs and bats will hibernate –
lower their body metabolism and “sleep” in areas that will not freeze.
a. Discuss with students about hibernation and give an example
of how a hibernating animal lowers its metabolism.
i. Groundhog hibernation (show picture of Groundhog to
students) [For more information on Ground hibernation,
see Reference #1]
1. Normal/Active heart rate ⇒ 80 beats/min;
Breathing rate ⇒12/min
2. Hibernation heart rate ⇒ 4-5 beats/min;
Breathing rate ⇒ 4/minute
3. Maintains its body temperature at roughly 4oC
(39.5 oF) ⇒ above freezing temperatures ⇒
sleeps underground as to evade freezing
temperatures
ii. Little brown bat hibernation (show picture of bats to
students) [For more information on Bat hibernation, see
Reference #2]
1. Normal/Active heart rate ⇒ 600-1300 beats/min;
Breathing rate ⇒ 200/min
2. Hibernation heart rate ⇒ 20 beats/min Maintains
its body temperature at roughly 4oC (39.5 oF) by
p. 5 of 11
Polar Creatures Script
sleeping in caves ⇒ cave temperatures remain
above freezing even in the winter.
2) Other animals will congregate in large masses such as the Garter
snake. Discuss with the students how the Garter snake can survive
without freezing. Show a Garter snake to students during the
discussion.
a. Congregate underground in large groups (show picture of
mass of snakes) ⇒ hibernaculum [For more information on
Garter snake overwintering strategies, see Reference #7]
b. Hibernaculum deep underground ⇒ below frost line
c. Large number of snakes each producing tiny amounts of heat
⇒ warm enough to prevent the whole mass from freezing
(show picture of snakes huddled together)
d. Explain the dangers of animals freezing ⇒ ice crystals forming
(and dehydrated cells) in cells leading to cellular damage [For
more information on the dangers of freezing on cells, see
Reference #4]
After giving proper “touching instructions”, allow the students to gently
touch the snake.
3) Other animals have adapted to cold weather by evolving methods that
allow them to safely freeze their bodies. Several insects have
developed this adaptation but very few vertebrates can actually freeze.
One such example is the Wood frog (show Woodfrog or Gray treefrog
and Woodfrog picture to students). Discuss with students how this
frog can actually freeze and survive. [For more information on frog
freezing abilities, see Reference #5 & #6]
a. Only frog in Ontario that can be found in the Arctic circle
(extreme North)
b. Produces an anti-freeze (produces lots of glucose) that
prevents the formation of ice crystals within the cells ⇒
cryoprotectant
c. Other frogs such as Tree frogs can partially freeze their bodies
and survive (up to 65% of their bodies can be frozen)
d. Some research have demonstrated that some turtles (Painted
turtles) can also survive partial freezing of their bodies [For
more information on turtle freezing abilities, see Reference #8]
You can walk around to show the frog to the students. DO NOT ALLOW THE
STUDENTS TO TOUCH THE FROG.
p. 6 of 11
Polar Creatures Script
Activity #3: Animals that have “adaptation”/active strategies
Materials
6 buckets containing the
magnifying glasses, feathers
and picture booklet
• Polar bear fur
Methodology
•
•
•
•
Container with ice and two
blubber gloves
Flying squirrel
Picture of a chickadee
Discuss with the students that few mammals and birds that remain in
winter/cold climates “sleep” throughout the cold season but in fact are still quite
active and have adapted, both physically and behaviourally, to survive cold
climates.
Ask students to describe some of the physical and behavioural adaptations of
these animals. More details and explanations can be given to older age
groups. Here is a partial list that students may mention:
1) Fur and feathers
2) Blubber
3) Shorter, smaller or rounder extremities ⇒ less heat loss
4) Sleeping in groups
5) Food caches ⇒ need food to produce energy to keep warm
6) Physical adaptations to capture/eat food in winter
a. Birds ⇒ eating nuts or berries (e.g chickadees, blue jays);
eating insects hidden in trees (e.g. woodpeckers, sapsucker);
eating carrion (e.g. crows, ravens, birds of prey); capturing
animals (e.g. birds of prey)
b. Mammals ⇒ carnivores (e.g. wolves, lynx, weasels);
herbivores (e.g. snowshoe hare, moose, porcupine)
7) Other physical adaptations to move about in the winter
a. Snowshoe hares and lynx ⇒ large feet to walk on snow
b. Wolves and moose ⇒ long legs to walk through snow
Next, discuss with the students of two such animals quite well adapted to
extreme cold conditions – the polar bear and the penguins. As part of the
discussion, two other animals will be presented as to provide contrast between
them and polar bears and penguins.
Activity #3a: Adaptations of Polar bears vs Flying squirrels
Ask the students what are some of the adaptations that polar bears have
evolved to survive in extreme cold conditions. With each answer, further
discuss each point by showing various body parts or through activities:
p. 7 of 11
Polar Creatures Script
1) Fur ⇒ heat retention, hollow tubes (show fur of polar bear and allow
students to touch) [For more information on Polar bear fur and
blub ber, see Reference #9]
2) Blubber ⇒ amazing heat retention
a. Blubber activity
i. Choose two students to participate
ii. Ask the participants to place one of their hands inside a
blubber glove
iii. Ask the participants to place their gloved hand into the
container with ice water, making sure that no water
enters the glove ⇒ ask the other students to count to 15
seconds to determine if the participants can withstand
the cold water.
1. After 15 seconds ask the participants to remove
their gloves from the water and ask them if they
felt cold.
iv. Repeat the same experiment with the same participants
but this time without a glove.
1. More than likely the participants will not last 15
seconds in ice cold water.
v. Explain to all students that Polar bears have a
fat/blubber layer that will insulate their bodies from the
cold ⇒ similar to the blubber glove.
vi. Show the picture of the thermograph of a Polar bear
1. Explain to the students that Polar bears do not
lose much bodily heat and that the only place on
their bodies where heat loss occurs is at their
eyes, nose and mouth.
3) Skull and teeth ⇒ can have access and eat food throughout winter ⇒
by having food, Polar bears have the energy necessary to remain
active and produce heat.
i. Show the skull of a Polar bear and compare it to the
skull of a Black bear.
1. Black bears have teeth (i.e. molars) adapted for
grinding plant matter which makes up 70% of
their diet ⇒ no plant matter in the winter therefore
they can not remain active.
2. Polar bear molars are adapted for eating meat ⇒
can hunt for food and remain active in the winter.
3. Polar bears also have a long “nose” which is
used to heat the cold air before it enters the body.
p. 8 of 11
Polar Creatures Script
Next demonstrate the differences between a Polar bear and a Flying squirrel.
[For more information on Flying squirrels overwintering strategies, see
Reference #10]:
1) Fur ⇒ does keep them warm but not as warm as polar bear.
2) Keeping in bunches ⇒ small mammals coming together to keep
warm.
3) Food caches ⇒ can find food, necessary to have the energy to
produce heat.
Activity #3b: Adaptations of penguins vs. chickadee
Distribute the buckets, one per group of students. Ask the students what are
some of the adaptations of penguins. With each answer, discuss each point
by showing various body parts or through activities:
1) Blubber
2) Feathers activity [For more information on penguin feathers, see
Reference #11]
a. Ask the students to look at the difference between a flight
feather and that of a penguin feather (within the metal
containers).
b. Show students that the penguin feather has a “recurved” shaft
that allows it to trap warm air near the body of the animal.
c. Show the students that penguin feathers are quite dense on
the body ⇒ ask the students to look on the underside of the
container which has a one inch square written on it ⇒ there
are approximately 70-80 penguin feathers per square inch on
the body of each bird.
3) Legs within body of bird.
a. Ask students to look at the internal diagram of a penguin ⇒
students will notice that penguin legs are found within the body
of the bird ⇒ less heat loss.
4) Laying eggs on feet ⇒ behavioural adaptation to prevent eggs from
freezing.
5) Bunching together to keep warm.
Next demonstrate the differences between a penguins and a chickadee. Show
a picture of a chickadee and ask what kind of adaptations they have to survive
the cold. The following are some of their adaptations [For more information on
Chickadee overwintering strategies, see Reference #12]:
p. 9 of 11
Polar Creatures Script
1) Feathers ⇒ can “fluff” them up to trap more heat, can have a heat
differential of approximately 20oC (68oF) between the outer
temperature and skin temperature.
2) Food ⇒ can find food and eat nuts and dormant insects in trees .
3) Known to shelter together on extremely cold days.
4) Can enter into a torpor state and lower their body temperature ⇒
need less energy to maintain a certain body temperature.
5) Food caches made in the fall ⇒ hypothalamus grows to allow the
bird to remember their food caches.
Activity #4: If time remaining and for older groups
Materials
Pictures of the following animals:
• Chickadee & Downy
woodpecker & Great Horned
Owl
• Artic fox & Vole & Tunnel in
snow
• Snowshoe hare & Lynx
• Wolf & Moose
Methodology
Show pictures of various animals and discuss how they are adapted to
cold/winter environments. Here are some examples (same as above):
1) Shorter, smaller or rounder extremities ⇒ less heat (e.g. arctic fox)
2) Physical adaptations to capture/eat food in winter
a. Birds ⇒ eating nuts or berries (e.g. chickadees, blue jays);
eating insects hidden in trees (e.g. woodpeckers, sapsucker);
eating carrion (e.g. crows, ravens, birds of prey); capturing
animals (e.g. birds of prey)
b. Mammals ⇒ carnivores (e.g. wolves, lynx, weasels);
herbivores (e.g. snowshoe hare, moose, porcupine)
3) Other physical adaptations to move about in the winter
a. Snowshoe hares and lynx ⇒ large feet to walk on snow
b. Wolves and moose ⇒ long legs to walk through snow
4) Remaining underground or under snow (i.e. subnivean environment)
p. 10 of 11
Polar Creatures Script
Wrap up and conclusion
Based on what they have learned, discuss with the students what they would
have done differently to ensure that their “animal” canister retained more heat.
Conclude the presentation by re-iterating some of neat adaptations that
animals have evolved to survive winter conditions:
•
•
•
•
•
•
Hibernation
Protection from the cold by remaining deep underground and
“huddling” together.
Cryoprotectants
Fur, feathers and blubber ⇒ heat retention, principles of convection
and conduction.
Able to feed during the winter season ⇒ food provides energy to
produce heat.
Other behavioural and physical adaptations.
Polar Creatures Script
Written by: Bruce Doran (M.Sc.)
September 2007
End of document
p. 11 of 11