BAT Zoo

Congratulations. You have been selected by the Beardsley Zoo to design a completely new zoo, the Biome And Taxonomy (or BAT) Zoo right here in Connecticut. This is a very special zoo, as it will display nine different biomes and each biome will contain a representive organism from all six Kingdoms of living things! That's a lot of animals, so we better get started!

Your task is to contribute to the building of the BAT Zoo. You will learn about all nine biomes and all six kingdoms before being assigned a biome. You will get information about your organisms within that biome and prepare a presentation for the BAT Zoo committee.

Step 1: Complete the Biome Research packet. 

Step 2: Complete the Taxonomic Research Packet.

• For each Kingdom
• Identify some characteristics that make this kingdom separate from the other five.
• Identify an organism from each biome.
• For each organism
• Where does it live (ex: Austrailia or Himalayan Mountains)
• How does it get its nutrition? (Does it make its own energy, does it eat other organisms? If so, what organisms does it eat?)
• Include a picture (Be sure to cite your source)

Step 3: Create a Biography Page for each organism. 

Resources:

Use these resources as a starting point. You may also use library books or other websites for information. Be sure to cite your sources. Biomeshttp://www.enchantedlearning.com/biomes/http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/glossary/gloss5/biome/http://wwf.panda.org/about_our_earth/about_forests/types/http://www.teachersfirst.com/lessons/biomes/biomes.cfmhttp://www.mbgnet.net/sets/http://www.worldbiomes.com/http://www.blueplanetbiomes.org/ Archaebacteria and/or Eubacteria http://www.essortment.com/all/archaebacteriae_rmkr.htmhttp://www.buzzle.com/articles/characteristics-of-archaebacteria.htmlhttp://www.historyoftheuniverse.com/archaebact.html http://www.microbeworld.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=142:where-theyre-found-archaea&catid=76:archaea&Itemid=94http://www.amnh.org/exhibitions/hall_tour/spectrum/2.htmlhttp://www.amnh.org/exhibitions/hall_tour/spectrum/a2848.htmlhttp://www.amnh.org/nationalcenter/infection/infectionindex.html

Protista

http://megasun.bch.umontreal.ca/protists/gallery.html: Select a photo and it will bring you to a site for that organism. Then, select any of the blue links and they will give you more information about that organism.

Fungi 

http://herbarium.usu.edu/fungi/FunFacts/factindx1.htm

Plantae

http://www.enchantedlearning.com/subjects/plants/plant/

Animalia

http://www.kidport.com/RefLib/Science/Animals/Animals.htm: Select a category, then select the videos for that category. Then select your animal for more information.

Other Sites

http://wcs.org/home/zoos/bronxzoo/

This project is for a homeschool cooperative course that is not graded.

Educators are encouraged to review the requirements of the project to create their own rubric for their class. Some points to consider:

• Did the student include all six kingdoms?
• Did the student include all nine biomes?
• Was the information accurate for all 54 organisms?
• Was there a picture included for each organism?
• Was there a full taxonomy for each organism?
• Are the sources cited accurately?
• Is information presented in student's own words?

Congratulations! The committee liked your proposal and we will begin building the zoo soon!!

This project was designed for a homeschool cooperative class. It was designed to be completed in approximately four sessions, each session a week apart. If using this in a traditional classroom, you may need to adapt your timetable.