Lesson Plan - Animals on the ice

Learning outcomes

Students will:

investigate animals that are indigenous and introduced to Antarctica
identify the characteristics that enable certain animals to survive the harsh conditions of Antarctica
invent their own super Antarctic animal.

Social Studies:
Place and Environment L 2–5
Time, Continuity, and Change L 2–5
Resources and Economic Activities L 2–4

Science:
Making Sense of the Living World L 2–5

Indigenous versus introduced

In groups, sort images of animals into two groups – those indigenous to Antarctica and those introduced to Antarctica.

Indigenous animals	Introduced animals
birds – penguins, skuas	Mrs Chippy – the ship’s cat from Endurance 1914
mammals – whales, seals	horses and ponies
sea life	dogs

What are some similarities and differences between these two groups of animals?
What special features allow the indigenous animals to survive in the Antarctic?
What animals did early Antarctic explorers take with them? Were they well equipped to survive in Antarctica? Why or why not?
Why do you think they took them? (They took animals from their home countries – animals that they were familiar with.)

Super Antarctic animal

Create a class flip chart consisting of three sections: head, body, and legs/tail. Include animals native to Antarctica and animals that arrived there as part of an expedition.
Mix and match the sections. Can you create your own super animal that could survive better than any other animal in Antarctica?
Make up a name for your super Antarctic animal.

www.purr-n-fur.org.uk/famous/chippy.html
Mrs Chippy, the tabby cat onboard Shackleton’s Endurance

www.70south.com/resources/antarctic-animals
Antarctic animals – species found in and around Antarctica

home.earthlink.net/~kcrawfish/
Information on the dogs and ponies chosen by early Antarctic explorer