Activity 1: What’s in a Name?
Students learn how scientists name a living thing in one of three ways: by reference to the location where an organism was found; in honor of a person with some connection to the discovery; or by reference to a unique body part or behavior.
Directions:
1. Explain. Scientists use Greek and Latin words and scientific conventions to name plants and animals, including prehistoric marine reptiles. There are three approaches: to reference the location where an organism was found; in honor of a person with some connection to the discovery; or to reference a unique body part or behavior.
One way scientists name living things is by the location where the animal lived or was first discovered. The mosasaur, a “Meuse River lizard,” is named after a tributary of a river in the Netherlands, where the first known specimen was discovered. Ask students if they can guess where the Argentinosaurus was first discovered.
Answer: Argentina.
Group Activity. Brainstorm some names of imaginary prehistoric sea creatures if they were discovered in your local area. Write the names on the board.
2. Explain. Other dinosaurs are named after famous people or for the lucky person who found them. The Mosasaurus hoffmanni is named after C.K. Hoffman Ask students who Nedcolbertia is named after.
Answer: Ned Colbert (Dr. Edwin “Ned” Colbert).
Or Ricardoestesia?
Answer: Richard Estes.
Group Activity. Brainstorm some names of imaginary prehistoric sea creatures named after famous people and then after the students themselves.
3. Explain. The last approach is to name animals by their body part, behavioral adaptations, or by whole body descriptions. Example: Englishman Richard Owen coined the word Dinosauria from “dino,” (terrible) and “saur” (lizard). An Ichthyosaur is an “ichthy” (fish) + “saur” (lizard).
Group Activity. Write the following Greek and Latin word parts on the board. Ask students to invent names for imaginary prehistoric sea creatures using three word parts (prefix, root word, and suffix). List these names and descriptions of the animals on the board. Example: a “Megabiceratosaurus” (‘big two-horned lizard’).
Note: This activity has been simplified for young students. Scientists would not mix Greek and Latin word parts.
Greek and Latin Word Parts
- bi—two
- cephal(o)—head
- cerat(o)—horn
- ichthy—fish
- mega—large
- micro—small
- odon or oden—tooth
- ops—eye or face
- ped or pes—foot
- rex—king
- rhino—nose
- saur(us)—lizard
- tri—three
- tyrann—tyrant
- uni—one
- vor(e)—eating
Additional Greek and Latin word parts (PDF, Adobe Reader required) are available online.
Activity 2: How do Animals Adapt?
Students are introduced to adaptations—changes in body parts or behaviors—that helped prehistoric marine reptiles survive in the Cretaceous period.
Directions:
1. Explain. Introduce the term “adaptation” to the students. An adaptation is a behavior or body part modification (change) that helps an animal survive where it lives. Explain that adaptations can occur through modified behavior (example: working in groups, swimming in schools to avoid predators) or modified body parts (example: chemical defense, camouflage, different limb shapes).
Ask students to brainstorm other examples.
Possible answers: modified body parts such as eyes (ability to see at night, ability to see far away, ability to see under water), keen sense of smell, large teeth, many teeth, claws, body size; modified behaviors such as playing dead, food selection, migration.
2. Discussion. Tell students that, like modern day animals, prehistoric animals also adapted body parts and behaviors in order to survive. In Sea Monsters: A Prehistoric Adventure, they will encounter incredible sea creatures that lived 82 million years ago. Ask the class to look for adaptations—body parts or behaviors—that helped these creatures survive.
View the film Sea Monsters: A Prehistoric Adventure.
3. Continue Discussion. Describe some of the challenges that the prehistoric marine reptiles faced in the film.
Possible answers: protecting their young, defending themselves, finding food.
4. Distribute Animal Adaptations (PDF) to each student. As a class, review the model of the giraffe. Next, have students participate in a guided classroom discussion or do library or online research to complete the rest of the handout.
Suggested Online Resources:
5. Discussion. Ask students to discuss what they learned about adaptations in modern and prehistoric animals.
Design-a-Saurus
Students create a drawing of a real or imagined prehistoric sea creature and name the creature after a place of discovery, an honored person, or an adaptation.
1. Review. Ask students to think of the different adaptations they have discussed or seen in the film. Review the three ways scientists name something that is living or was once alive—after a person, a place, or an adaptation. Tell students that paleontologists often draw animals that they study.
2. Start Activity. Tell students they are going to create a profile of a real or imagined prehistoric marine reptile. To complete the assignment, students should:
- Draw the real or imagined animal.
- Label one or more adaptations, noting how it helped the animal survive in its environment.
- Draw and label a map of where it was found and who first discovered it.
- Name the prehistoric marine reptile. If it is an imagined animal, create a name after an adaptation, a place, or a person. If it is a real animal, explain the origins of its name.
- Write one or more declarative sentence(s) about the animal.
3. Student Presentations. Have students share their work with the class. Students should introduce their animal by name, describe the animal (including its body part and behavioral adaptations) and how those adaptations helped it survive in its environment, and determine if the animal is named after a person, a place, or an adaptation.
This material is based in part upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. ESI-0514981. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.
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