Animals and Their Coverings

Sorensen, Beverly                          Darwin School
                                           1-312-292-5111
                       

Objective
 
To review and recall information about invertebrates and vertebrates, cold-blooded 
and warm-blooded animals and their coverings. 

Equipment and Materials

 Pictures of animals with an answer sheet
 Invertebrates and vertebrates (live, preserved or models, and coverings of animals 
   such as scales, shells, feathers and fur) 
 Overhead projector with selected pictures of invertebrates and vertebrates to 
   project 
 
Recommended Strategies

1. Show a display of various animals and animal coverings allowing the students to 
   observe as well as handle the material as they come into class. 
2. Review cold-blooded and warm-blooded animals - what does cold-blooded mean? Have a 
   student write the meaning on the board. Do the same for warm-blooded. Hold up a 
   frog, a  salamander, and a fish, while at the same time asking the class whether 
   they are cold-blooded or warm-blooded. Discuss humans as warm-blooded animals. Re-
   read the definitions from the board. 
3. Review invertebrates and vertebrates by tracing the backbones of skeletons of man, 
   a frog, a snake, a giraffe, a bird, and a fish, while each of these objects is 
   being projected on the overhead projector. 
4. Show preserved animals such as crayfish, grasshopper, starfish; also pictures 
   and/or skeleton of a horse, a polar bear, a snake or a giraffe. Have the students 
   determine which of these animals are invertebtates and vertebrates.   
5. Discuss animal coverings - have the students obtain animal coverings from the 
   display. Ask: In what way does the animal use this particular covering? Of what is 
   the animal covering made? (Suggested type of coverings - fur, feather, scale, 
   smooth, spiny, hard or soft.) 
6. Play a game using pictures of animals and answer sheets. Each station will have a 
   picture of an animal, with a number on the back of each picture and an answer 
   sheet. Students will have a time limit in which which to answer the questions, 
   follow the directions and move to the next station. 
  
   Procedure:  The leader explains the movement from station to station. Pupils 
will note the number, turn the picture over and answer letters A, B, C on the 
answer sheet. After 30 seconds the leader will call stop, the students place the 
picture face down and move to the right to the next station. At the signal to 
start the students begin answering the same questions for the next picture. This 
will continue until the students have completed all the pictures. Questions on 
each answer sheet for each number: 
     A. Is the animal cold-blooded or warm-blooded?  Write C or W 
     B. Is the animal an invertebrate or a vertebrate?  Write I or V 
     C. What is the type of body covering of the animal (fur, feather, scale, smooth, 
        spiny, hard or soft)? 


   Use a transparency on the overhead projector to discuss the answers. After the 
students have corrected their answer sheets:     
     A. Search the answers to find and note the animals with fur and the animals with 
        feathers. 
     B. Ask:  Are any of these animals warm-blooded? What does warm-blooded mean?  
        Anticipated answer:  The body temperature stays more or less the same no 
        matter how hot or cold the outside temperature. 
     C. Search the answer sheets and find all the invertebrates. Discuss: Are all of 
        these animals warm-blooded or cold-blooded? Anticipated answer: all 
        invertebrates are cold-blooded. Review the meaning of cold-blooded. 
        Anticipated answer: cold-blooded animals take on the temperature of their 
        environment. 

Optional Activities

   Do the following exercise using a 5 x 8 inch envelope made from cheesecloth and 
filled with feathers, a bucket of ice and your hands:       
   1. Hold the envelope with the feathers on your hand, and at the same time insert 
      both into the bucket of ice. Note: be sure the feathers are between your hand 
      and the ice! 
   2. Insert your hand in the ice bucket without the ice. Did the feathers keep your 
      hand from getting cold?  Discuss how the feathers of birds are used as 
      insulation against the cold. Do the the same exercise using fur. 
   How do you think these types of coverings effect the body temperature of warm-
   blooded animals?  Do warm-blooded animals need extra protection for cold 
   weather? 
       Discuss: Animals grow extra thick fur in the winter and shed their fur in the 
summer. Birds molt or lose their feathers in the summer and fluff their feathers in 
the winter to keep their body temperature even. Humans wear layers of clothing in the 
winter to keep their body temperature even. 

Resources

Magazines
    Life Magazine, National Geographic, National Wildlife, 
    International Wildlife, Outdoor Life, Scientific American, 
    Smithsonian, Zoobooks, and Children and Science
Museums
    Field Museum of Natural History, Harris Center - 922-94l0  Ex. 352 
    Chicago Academy of Sciences, Lincoln Park Zoo - 935-6700 
    Museum of Science and Industry, Shedd Aquarium - 939-2438    
    Chicago Public Library, Science/Tech. Info.-269-2865   
    American Science Center - preserved animal specimens -763-0313 
    Chicago Teachers Center - picture laminating -478-2506 
    The Learning Tree - 44l9 N. Ravenswood - charts on morphology of animals -769-
    3737