Bernard Family Hall of North American Mammals
Animal Adaptations
OVERVIEW
Students will learn that animals’ adaptations help them survive in their
environments.
•B
efore Your Visit: Students will engage in hands-on activities in order to explore
animal adaptations.
• During Your Visit:
o In the Bernard Family Hall of North American Mammals, students, with
the help of chaperones, will observe animals in dioramas to find a variety
of adaptations.
o Students will visit the Milstein Hall of Ocean Life to observe marine mammals.
Activities for Grades K-2
NYS Living Environment Core
Curriculum:
3.1a: Each animal has different
structures that serve different
functions in growth, survival and
reproduction.
• Back in the Classroom: Students will create animal puppets and put on a play about adaptations.
BACKGROUND FOR EDUCATOR
Physical and behavioral traits help animals obtain food, defend themselves, communicate, stay cool or warm, and attract mates.
These characteristics, called adaptations, improve the ability of an organism to survive and reproduce in a given environment.
Adaptation is a result of natural selection.
BEFORE YOUR VISIT
Activity: Explore Adaptations
Through a reading, a discussion, and a hands-on activity, students will explore
animal adaptations.
Read aloud to the class a short article about the North American beaver
(see Appendix) and its adaptations, such as webbed hind feet, closeable ears, and
a paddle-like tail.
Follow the reading with a class discussion on adaptations. Questions can include:
• What do we call body parts that help an animal survive? (Answer: adaptations)
• Can you name a body part that helped the beaver and tell us how or why it was
helpful? (Answers may include: fur for staying warm, sharp teeth for cutting trees
and building a home, webbed feet and a tail that acts like a rudder for swimming)
• How might it be hard for the beaver to survive if it did not have these adaptations?
(Answers may include: It might get cold without its waterproof fur; it might have
a hard time swimming without its webbed feet or tail; if its teeth didn’t keep
growing it wouldn’t be able to cut down trees and eat.)
Plan how your students will explore
the Bernard Family Hall of North
American Mammals using the three
different group worksheets.
Divide your class into three teams.
Further divide each team into small
groups of three to four and assign each
to a teacher/parent chaperone who
will facilitate their exploration of the
dioramas.
If possible, distribute and review
copies of the map and worksheets to
chaperones beforehand.
Then have students each select an animal and create paper cutouts of its physical adaptations. First have them choose a trait
(claws, shells, quills, teeth, hooves, horns, antlers, etc.). Students should then draw them on paper, cut them out, and wear them.
Bring the class together for show and tell: have students take turns explaining why they chose that adaptation and how they think it
could help the animal survive.
Materials:
• Paper
• Crayons
• Safety scissors
• Glue sticks
• Tape
• Hole punch
• Cardboard tubes from paper towels
• Yarn (so that the kids can wear what they make)
© 2012 American Museum of Natural History. All rights reserved.
amnh.org/nammals
Bernard Family Hall of North American Mammals
Activities for Grades K-2
DURING YOUR VISIT
Bernard Family Hall of North American Mammals
1st floor (45-60 minutes)
Students will visit dioramas to observe, identify, and describe adaptations. Using the Group Worksheet, chaperones will guide
small groups of students through a tour of the hall and record student observations that will be shared back in the classroom.
Milstein Hall of Ocean Life
1st floor (30 minutes)
Students will visit marine mammals dioramas to observe, identify, and describe adaptations. Divided in the same three groups,
have chaperones guide students to marine mammals dioramas on the lower level: Polar bear (Team 1: finding food), walrus
(Team 2: keeping safe), northern elephant seal (Team 3: withstanding weather). Chaperones can use the same prompts from
the Group Worksheet and record student observations on the back.
BACK IN THE CLASSROOM
Activity: Create a Puppet
As a class, students will review their findings from their Museum visit. Transfer student observations from the three group
worksheets onto the board, so that they can be viewed by the entire class. Ask students from each of the three groups to share
what adaptations they found to be most interesting. Then have each student create an animal puppet that includes its adaptations
to its environment. Students can use these to put on a class play about adaptations.
RECOMMENDED BOOKS
Mammal by Steve Parker
An introduction to the natural history of mammal behavior and anatomy. Topics range from how newborn mice develop to how
camels walk on sand and why some mammals have spines instead of fur. DK Publishing, 2004. ISBN: 0-7566-0703-5
What is a Mammal? by Robert Snedden
This lavishly illustrated exploration of the question “What makes a mammal a mammal?” includes intriguing examples like
marsupials and platypuses. Sierra Club Books for Children, 1993. ISBN: 0-87156-468-8
Animals Should Definitely Not Wear Clothing by J. Barrett
NY: Scholastic Inc., 1970. ISBN: 0-590-44739-4
© 2012 American Museum of Natural History. All rights reserved.
amnh.org/nammals
Grades K-2
Bernard Family Hall of North American Mammals
Group Worksheet • Team 1: Finding Food
Instructions for the adult facilitator:
1. Ask students to identify and describe what they see.
2. Encourage students to be as descriptive as possible, and solicit contributions from all students.
3. Record as many of their observations as possible.
Diorama
What body parts are the animals
using to find food?
What kind of food are they
looking for?
1. Grizzly bear
2. White-tailed
deer
3. American
bison &
pronghorn
If you have extra time, explore these dioramas:
• Alaska brown bear
• Canada lynx and snowshoe hare
© 2012 American Museum of Natural History. All rights reserved.
amnh.org/namammals
Grades K-2
Bernard Family Hall of North American Mammals
Group Worksheet • Team 2: Keeping Safe
Instructions for the adult facilitator:
1. Ask students to identify and describe what they see.
2. Encourage students to be as descriptive as possible, and solicit contributions from all students.
3. Record as many of their observations as possible.
Diorama
What body parts are the animals using
to defend or protect themselves?
What might they need
protection from?
1. Fisher &
porcupine
2. Black bear
3. Moose
If you have extra time, explore these dioramas:
• Nine-banded armadillo
• Spotted skunk and ringtail (cacomistle)
© 2012 American Museum of Natural History. All rights reserved.
amnh.org/namammals
Bernard Family Hall of North American Mammals
Grades K-2
Group Worksheet • Team 3: Withstand Weather
Instructions for the adult facilitator:
1. Ask students to identify and describe what they see.
2. Encourage students to be as descriptive as possible, and solicit contributions from all students.
3. Record as many of their observations as possible.
Diorama
What body parts is the animal using What kind of environment is it
to help it withstand weather?
adapted to?
1. Musk ox
2. North
American
beaver
3. Black-tailed
jackrabbit &
antelope
jackrabbit
© 2012 American Museum of Natural History. All rights reserved.
amnh.org/namammals
Grades K-2
Bernard Family Hall of North American Mammals
Group Worksheet • Team 1: Finding Food
ANSWER KEY
Instructions for the adult facilitator:
1. Ask students to identify and describe what they see.
2. Encourage students to be as descriptive as possible, and solicit contributions from all students.
3. Record as many of their observations as possible.
Diorama
What body parts are the animals
using to find food?
What kind of food are they
looking for?
1. Grizzly bear
(Eyes, paws, claws, snout, mouth/teeth)
(Fish, rodents, carrion, grasses, mosses,
roots, tubers, bulbs, berries, insects,
larvae, fungi, carrion)
2. White-tailed
deer
(Eyes, nose, mouth/teeth)
(Leaves from blackgum trees, twigs,
dried leaves and evergreen needles)
3. American
bison &
pronghorn
(Eyes, nose, mouth/teeth)
(Shrubs, small plants, grasses, cacti)
If you have extra time, explore these dioramas:
• Alaska brown bear
• Canada lynx and snowshoe hare
© 2012 American Museum of Natural History. All rights reserved.
amnh.org/namammals
Grades K-2
Bernard Family Hall of North American Mammals
Group Worksheet • Team 2: Keeping Safe
ANSWER KEY
Instructions for the adult facilitator:
1. Ask students to identify and describe what they see.
2. Encourage students to be as descriptive as possible, and solicit contributions from all students.
3. Record as many of their observations as possible.
Diorama
What body parts are the animals using
to defend or protect themselves?
What might they need
protection from?
1. Fisher &
porcupine
(Porcupine uses its legs/claws to climb
high into tree so fisher can’t reach it.
Sharp quills on its body also serve as
protection.)
(The fisher and other predators would
like to eat the porcupine.)
2. Black bear
(The cottonmouth snake exposes its
fangs in threat.)
(The encounter between the snake and
the bear is accidental. The bear can eat
a varied diet that requires less risk of
injury and the snake would probably
prefer smaller prey that would be more
easily captured.)
3. Moose
(The Moose uses its antlers to defend
itself. Fighting moose roll their eyes to
see better and send signals. The bull’s
downward cast eyes mean that he is
holding his ground.)
(The combat in this diorama is a clash
for the right to mate with a female.
Males evaluate antler size when deciding
whether to fight over a female.)
If you have extra time, explore these dioramas:
• Nine-banded armadillo
• Spotted skunk and ringtail (cacomistle)
© 2012 American Museum of Natural History. All rights reserved.
amnh.org/namammals
Grades K-2
Bernard Family Hall of North American Mammals
Group Worksheet • Team 3: Withstand Weather
ANSWER KEY
Instructions for the adult facilitator:
1. Ask students to identify and describe what they see.
2. Encourage students to be as descriptive as possible, and solicit contributions from all students.
3. Record as many of their observations as possible.
Diorama
What body parts is the animal using What kind of environment is it
to help it withstand weather?
adapted to?
1. Musk ox
(Squat, woolly bodies limit heat loss)
(Arctic tundra, where temperatures can
plunge bellow -40 F)
2. North
American
beaver
(The beaver has a dense, oily fur coat to
help maintain its body temperature in
the water)
(Beavers are semi-aquatic)
3. Black-tailed
jackrabbit &
antelope
jackrabbit
(The jackrabbits long ears and high legs
help keep it cool)
(Desert, scarce water and hot days)
© 2012 American Museum of Natural History. All rights reserved.
amnh.org/namammals
Grades K-2
Bernard Family Hall of North American Mammals
Appendix 1
NORTH AMERICAN BEAVER
July evening
Beaver Pond, Hoister Creek, Michigan
The beaver is not your typical rodent. It’s the largest one on the
continent, and the only one that can cut down mature trees. Beavers
use the timber to build large, elaborate nests—dome-shaped lodges
with underwater entrances—inside ponds. If there is no pond, beavers
will create one by building a dam to block a stream. The resulting moat
around their lodges keeps wolves, coyotes and other predators at bay.
As semiaquatic rodents, beavers have closeable ears and nostrils,
webbed hind feet and very dense fur coats. Their paddlelike tails appear to be covered in scales like a fish, but they aren’t. Rather, the skin is
grooved in a scaly pattern, which makes the thick tail more flexible.
Beavers can drastically alter landscapes. Working in family groups of
four to eight, a beaver colony can cut down more than a ton of trees per
year. This colony has dammed a stream with logs, mud and stones to
make a pond. The land is so newly flooded that some trees have not yet
drowned.
© 2012 American Museum of Natural History. All rights reserved.
amnh.org/namammals
Bernard Family Hall of North American Mammals
Grades K-2
Appendix 1
NORTH AMERICAN BEAVER
July evening
Beaver Pond, Hoister Creek, Michigan
© 2012 American Museum of Natural History. All rights reserved.
amnh.org/namammals