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Food webs, classification and biodiversity Additional primary activities to accompany the Gould League Food webs, classification and biodiversity kit. |
Animals active at night
Level
1 and 2
Curriculum area: Science and SOSE
Background
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Animals that are active at night are called nocturnal animals. Most Australian mammals are nocturnal. A few such as the numbat and dingo are active during the day. Others such as the koala and echidna can be seen feeding during the night and during the day. Note that domestic cats, even when well fed, kill native animals if they are able to move about at night. A cat can kill up to 6 frogs in one night. |
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Outcomes
Students:
- Identify some animals that are active at night.
- Find out that some animals survive best if they are active at night.
- Identify features that help animals survive at night.
- apply the information gathered to a pictorial representation.
Materials and preparation
whiteboard, marker, Australian woodland cut-outs from the Gould League Food webs, Classification and Biodiversity kit, art materials such as black paper to make a night time scene, grey and coloured paper, scissors, glue, some pruned branches from the school yard.
Method
Ask the students to suggest animals that they have seen or heard at night. The list may include possums, ants, frogs, cats, bats, kangaroos, wombats and owls. Display some of the animal pictures from the Australian food web. As a class sort the animals into day animals and night (nocturnal) animals.
Discuss why nocturnal animals might survive better if they are active at night rather than during the day. For example being active at night means animals are more difficult to see and this helps them avoid being eaten. Look at the pictures of the nocturnal animals and note the features that help them stay alive at night - dark colours, large eyes, large ears, etc.
As a class activity, make a night scene using black cardboard as a backdrop. Make a moon, burrows and resting places for daytime animals that sleep during the night. Have children make images of night active animals to include in the scene.
Extension
Play the Bat and Moth game. Bats have poor eyesight and use echolocation to find food (insects). Echolocation works by the bat emitting high pitched sounds that bounce off their prey so that the bats can determine where they are for capture.
Students make a bat cave by forming a circle. Nominate one student who pretends to be a bat. The student is blindfolded and moves around the circle yelling "BAT". At the same time five students that have been nominated to play the moths move around the circle and reply "MOTH" as soon as the bat has said "BAT". The bat keeps saying "BAT" and moves around listening and capturing each moth until all are caught or enough time has elapsed. The moths can move around within the cave but must remain still when they yell "MOTH".
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