Science Homework Help

Watch one wild vertebrate animal (or animals) for at least 1 continuous hour. It can be a bird, mammal, amphibian, fish, or reptile. If you are unable to watch a single animal for an hour (i.e., a bird flies off into the sunset), then you can watch multiple animals. What is this animal doing? Where is this animal? How does it spend most of its time? Is it alone? Is it interacting with other animals? How is it interacting? Etc.

While watching the animal, ID the animal (there are various sites and field guides you can use on the internet for this), take notes on its behaviors, and infer why the animal is doing those behaviors. Additionally, include 1 sketch/illustration of the animal(s). The artwork should accurately depict the animal, including identifiable details and behavior that you witness. By identifiable details, I mean details like patterns, color (can be written in if drawing in black and white), number of legs, number of fins, fin shape, rough body shape, etc.). You can use a photo to inform your sketch, but you must submit an illustration (digital or a photo of a hardcopy).

Lastly, reflect on what you have learned throughout the semester. How did the way you watch this animal change compared to the beginning of the semester? Did you use any different skills or search for the animal(s) in different ways? Do you ID or draw animals differently now? Has the type of inferences you’ve made about natural history changed from your observations change? Do you see wildlife differently now (It’s ok if you don’t)? Etc.

For this assignment, you will need these completed:

-Accurately IDed a wild animal in your region

-Created typed notes of your observations

-Created a drawing of the animal that depicts a behavior and identifiable details

-Completion of a full reflection (i.e., not just one or two sentences, but a full paragraph at least)