Animal Research

Get ready to do some animal research! 

You will be working on your own or in pairs to research an animal. You can use books, magazines, the internet, and/ or people to find out information about an animal.

You also have a choice of how you want to present your information. You can:

• make a brochure
• write a report
• make a poster
• make an advertisement
• make a blog using Scrapblog
• make a web with Kidspiration

Information that you might want to put into your presentation may include:

• The Animal's Name: What does its name mean?

• Appearance: What does your animal look like? How big is it? What shape is its body? What does an average one weigh? Does it have horns, antlers, fur, crests or claws? Describe the teeth, head, neck, tail, etc. How many legs does it have? Are its legs long or short? How many eyes and how many body parts does it have? Does it molt as it grows?

• Diet: What does your animal eat and how does it get its food? Is it an herbivore (plant eater), carnivore (meat eater), omnivore (eating meat and plants), or something else? Is there something unusual in the way your animal eats?

• Habitat and Range: What type of biome does this animal prefer (does it live in the desert, swamp, tundra, deep sea, coral reef, tropical rainforest, pond, or other habitat)? Where in the world does it live? List the continent(s), country/countries, and/or smaller areas that it lives in.

• Locomotion: Can your animal move? If so, how does your animal move (does it walk, fly, jump, burrow, etc.)? Is it slow-moving or fast-moving? Why is this important to its survival?

• Adaptations: What are the obvious adaptations of your animal to its environment?

• Life Cycle/Reproduction: Give information on the animal's life cycle and reproduction.

• Behavior: Describe interesting features of your animal's behavior.

• Defense/Offense: How does it defend itself (and/or attack other animals)?

• Enemies: What animals eat or otherwise kill your animal?

• Species Survival Status: Is this animal species in danger of extinction? If so, why? Has it lost habitat, lost a food source, or has it been overhunted?

• Something Special: Is there anything special about this animal? This can often be the best part of the report, taking you off on interesting topics.

Here are some helpful online resources:

http://library.thinkquest.org/5053/profiles.html

Enchanted Learning

National Geographic Kids

Yahoo! Kids: Kids Study: Animals

KidsBiology.com

The World Alamanac for Kids

Especies Fact Sheets

Smithsonian National Zoological Park

Wikipedia