Adaptations - Hunter - Hunted

Focus: Animals that hunt other animals for their food, and the animals that are hunted, have special adaptations to meet the challenges of their particular roles.

Puppets (Rabbit, Bunny, Grandma Rabbit, Fox)
Note: Puppet show is not in Hands-On Nature! Script and puppet templates are in the Coordinator's binder with other supplementary material or download here as a pdf file.

Materials Checklist
Puppet Show (puppets, script, thicket scene for stage, shawl for Grandma Rabbit and Fox, sign saying, "Meanwhile in Grandma Rabbit's Thicket ...")
Rabbits and Foxes (felt board, felt cutouts - 15 rabbits, 11 foxes, grass, trees, shrubs, quilt batting for snow, Rabbits & Foxes story)
What's the Difference? (pictures of hunters and hunted animals)
Getaway Skits (scenario cards, signs with animals' names to tape to players, tape)
Snack Track (a variety of uncooked pasta, snacks for whole class) Superhunter (prey cards, large sheets of paper, crayons, pencils, markers, tape)

Supplementary Reference Materials (Rabbit and fox stencils, Kid Bits, Getaway Skit scenarios, Superhunter)

Additional Reading/Resources
Foodchain: Encounters Between Mates, Predators, and Prey, by Catherine Chalmers and Gordon Grice, Aperture Press, 2000.
The Carnivores, by R.F. Ewer and Devra Kleiman, Comstock Press, 1998.
Everybody's Somebody's Lunch: The Role of Predator and Prey in Nature, by Claire Mason, et.al., Tilbury House, 2003.
The Adventures of Danny Meadow Mouse, by Thornton W. Burgess, Dover Publications, New York, 1993.
God's Dog: The North American Coyote, by Hope Ryden, Lyons Press, 1997.

For Younger Children
Many of the activities in VINS's new Small Wonders book can be used in ELF, too. To find appropriate activities for children aged 3-6, click here.

Teaching Suggestions

Try the new puppet show to introduce this unit!

Rabbits and Foxes Story
Robert Rabbit and Freddie Fox characters can co-narrate the felt-board story from above the felt board while an assistant puts up the felt pieces. Note, however, that if the narrator can't see what is happening on the board, your timing may be off!

A bigger felt board and two assistants (one for rabbits, one for foxes) makes this flow smoother. A few mice and berry bushes make this more visually interesting AND realistic.

This activity could be presented after “What's the Difference?” and “Getaway Skits” or even as a part of a closure discussion for older students so you can really talk about population change and balance.

What's the Difference
Give each team a poster or pictures of either predators or prey species. Give each team a bag of cards or a long list on which are written the behavioral and physical adaptations listed below, all mixed together. Students might want to add additional characteristics to this list. Students on each team should pick out the cards/circle the items that seem to best describe their animals. Have groups hold up their pictures and tell others in the group which adaptations they selected.
What are some similarities between predators and prey? (all have keen senses, speed and agility)
What are some differences? (They differ in their behavior. They also have different adaptations for getting and eating their food.)
Do some animals seem to have adaptations of both predators and prey? Why? (because some are both predator and prey.)

Keen sight, Keen hearing, Keen smell, Run/fly fast, Eyes to the front, Eyes on the side, Ears to the front, Ears on the side - can swivel around, Camouflaged, Seek cover to lie in wait, Seek cover to hide, Roam far, Stay close to home, Inquisitive, Shy and secretive, Thoroughly investigate anything new, React with fear or avoid the unfamiliar, Often restless and on the prowl, Nervous in exposed places, Chase or stalk prey, Aware of nearest cover and escape route, Tools to catch and eat prey, Eat while looking out for danger,
Gorge when food is available, Eating most of the time, May hunt in groups, Respond to warnings of group members.
Materials: pictures or collage of predators; pictures or collage of prey animals; cards of adaptations listed above, one set per group.

Getaway Skits
It is important to give characters a name tag or picture tag to wear when acting out these skits.
Some groups put the signs on people's backs not fronts to make guessing more challenging.

Snack Track
For K-2, set up two or three trails ahead of time and have an adult lead small groups out to follow the trail.

Pasta isn't reusable if it's wet when it is put back in the bags!

With lots of classes using the same schoolyard, any pasta that gets left behind can confuse the next class to come outside. Tell students that they must pick up every piece of pasta in the order in which it was deposited. Also, volunteers should use a specific number of pasta for each bag and then check the bags when the activity is over to be sure all the noodles were picked up.

Be sure to have all groups start laying trails from a known point – otherwise when they switch they have to hunt all over to find the start of their trail. Place a red-dyed noodle for the start of each trail, and a few wrapped peppermints for the prey at the end. (One group used a red clothespin to mark the beginning and end of each trail.)

Superhunter
Encourage students to be imaginative in their drawings!

Extensions
“Hounds and Hares” by H. Lange: This game works best in a wooded area where the hares can hide before the hounds are released to sniff them out. Divide the kids into Hound and Hare groups. Give the hares 30 seconds to hide while the hounds are kept at bay facing away from the playing area. Release the hounds to go catch the hares. The hares can lie still as long as they dare to avoid detection, but they should run when their discovery is imminent. Designate one rabbit lair (customarily a big tree) that can hold no more than 2 or 3 hares at a time. The lair provides safety from the hounds, but once one too many hares arrive in the den, the first has to run for it. When all hares are captured, a new round begins with a switching of roles: hounds are now hares.

Learning Goals

Concepts/Ideas:

• In a healthy ecosystem there is a balance between predators (hunters) and prey (hunted) animals as long as there are adequate habitat resources (food, water, & shelter) to provide for each group's successful reproduction.
• Animals that hunt other animals for food have adaptations that help them to find and catch their prey. Animals that are hunted have special adaptations that help them to become aware of predators and to escape from, defend against, or discourage them. Some adaptations are common to both predators and prey.
• Animals display a variety of different hunting and escaping strategies.

Vocabulary: Adaptation, Physical Adaptation, Behavioral Adaptation, Ecosystem, Habitat, Predator, Prey, Herbivore, Carnivore, Omnivore, Nocturnal, Diurnal, Crepuscular, Interdependence

Skills:

• Active listening to understand the shifting balance and interdependence between groups of predators and their prey
• Comparing and contrasting adaptations that are specific to hunted animals and hunting animals and discussing adaptations the groups have in common.
• Experiencing the role of predator and prey through a game of hiding and searching.
• Creating a model using paper, crayons, pencils and tape to show adaptations a predator would need to capture prey.

Grade Expectations:
Grades PK-K (S30, S34) Rabbits and foxes are living animals. Plants and animals need food, water, and air to survive.

Grades 1-2 (S30, S35) Rabbits and foxes are animals that are made up of body parts that enable them to survive in the particular places they live. All animals depend on plants. Some animals eat plants for food; other animals eat animals that eat plants.

Grades 3-4 (S30, S34, S35) Animals, like rabbits and foxes, have physical and behavioral characteristics that help them to get what they need and to defend themselves in their environment. Energy derived from food is needed for all animals to stay alive and grow. All animals' food sources begin with plants. Organisms can only survive in habitats in which their needs are met.

Grades 5-6 (S35, S36) Energy within an ecosystem originates from the sun; plants use energy from the sun to make energy rich food, animals eat food that plants make. The number of animals that an ecosystem can support depends on the kinds of organisms present and the availability of food, water and other resources.

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