The 3rd Ecology class with the Pitchandikulum Forest Consultants took place at a restored urban wetland. After attending a lecture on reptiles, the children were asked to break into groups. Each group was tasked with finding snake skins which had been previously hidden by the educators.
Kids found skins of a common vine snake, cobra, vipers and rat snake. Each skin was hidden where a snake might typically shed it - under rocks, under a tree etc.
Then the children learned how to identify the different snakes by counting the scales on the body. This was painstaking work, but no child hesitated. Each one handled the skin and counted. Kids have been told to refer to the field guide "Snakes of India" to better understand the different kinds of snakes.
Here is a write up by a 6th grader, S. Shameer who writes about all she learned:
Kids found skins of a common vine snake, cobra, vipers and rat snake. Each skin was hidden where a snake might typically shed it - under rocks, under a tree etc.
Then the children learned how to identify the different snakes by counting the scales on the body. This was painstaking work, but no child hesitated. Each one handled the skin and counted. Kids have been told to refer to the field guide "Snakes of India" to better understand the different kinds of snakes.
Here is a write up by a 6th grader, S. Shameer who writes about all she learned:
August 2nd 2018.
On
this date we learned about reptiles. There are many animals that can be
classified in this family. Most of them are lizard, crocodiles, turtles and the
coolest of all snakes. Now I think you got the clue about what we learned that day.
First lets talk about-
Lizards:
We
might think about lizards like yuck and disgusting but they are pretty cool. So
of them don’t have eyelids.
Did you know the world’s largest
reptile, the Komodo Dragon, is classified in the lizard family? And it is kind
of dangerous. And you might think that you are live away from them. Aha! No you
don’t! You live with geckos. Yes those yellow green animals GO in the lizard
family but actually called Geckos. Yup, you might have been a roommate with
them.
And do you know how they are just stick
to that wall? Well they have thin small hair which can only bee see by
microscope, they create static between the wall and their legs. When they see a
predator, they fool it by leaving its tail behind. Yup, but their tail grows
back. they will become prey sometimes so their population is always under control
that way. And they also keep the mosquito population under control too.
Read and Reflect
1. What
are the 4 groups of animals that can go into the reptile family?
2. What
large reptile is classified as a lizard?
3. True
or false?
Some lizards do not have eyelids TRUE or FALSE
Crocodiles:
Crocodiles, the difference
between a crocodile and an alligator is that an alligator has a U shaped mouth
and a crocodile has a V shaped mouth.
Also the alligator’s upper jaws are visible when they close their mouth but a
crocodile’s jaws, all of them are visible when they close it’s mouth. So with
that it can’t really bite.
So imagine you are walking
and you are really tired. You want water and you see a pond near by and you go
near it. Slowly you are drinking water and then……………..BAMM!!!!!! Now you are in
the water getting rolled. The pressure feels like a lorry on your finger. And
soon enough the crocodile breaks the body into pieces, which it gulps it down,
with the bones!
This is actually what the
crocodile does it is an ambush predator, a predator that waits for it s prey patiently
inn the water by only sticking it’s eyes and head out of the water. The
strongest bite, it doesn’t really have teeth so it can’t really bite so it does the dead roll, thats when you feel
the pressure. Lorry on your finger. And eventually it breaks your body into pieces.
Which it gulps it down with the bones.
How do the bones get
digested? Because crocodiles eat rocks before eating anything on purpose. And
when they eat bones they easily get digested by hitting the rocks in the
stomach. Imagine how heavy it would be.
Now, when a crocodile lay
eggs, it does it like a turtle by digging a hole in the sand and helps them
come out or when there is no sand around, it lyas eggs in the leaf litter. And
when they hatch the babies can’t come out by themselves, the mother has to come
and dig the leaf litter but when the mother is away? And the babies hatch? Well
because their clicking sound. Which can be heard 1km away. So the mom comes
and takes to the water and they learn to swim. I rate them 3/5 as parents
because after the babies become 1 year, they are all by themselves.
All reptiles need three
common things to live. Water and food which they already have. But the 3rd
thing is SUNLIGHT. So they bask in the sun. it’s like their solar power. They
absorb it on their skin, on their back. But what happens if they get too hot
they just open their mouth and let the heat come out.
Crocodiles have some thing
called scuts on their body which act like scales on their body. Also helps
absorbs sunlight. The also have an 3 eyelids, one of them helps them
underwater.
Read
and Reflect:
1. What
is an alligator’s mouth shaped like?
2. What
is the name of the roll crocodiles do?
3. How does
the mom know when the babies hatched?
4. True
or False?
Crocodiles
have the strongest bite TRUE or FALSE
Bonus: What is cute”
about crocodile?
Turtles
and tortoises:
Now I think yoou all know
they have shells. There are 3 types of turtles mainly in India, those are the
one that lives in freshwater, the other that lives in salt water. And the other
one is tortoise (not a turtle).
The one we will talk about
is the one that lives in salt water. It is the Olive Ridley Turtle. I t gets
it’s name from it’s shell. It is green and shaped like an olive.
Did you know, there is on in Orissa where 1-2
lakh turtles come to the sea and lay eggs. And they lay eggs between 100-200 eggs.
When they lay eggs, they dig a hole and go to
the water so it won’t stay with the babies who hatch after 45 days. So I rate
it as 1/5 as a mom because as soon as it lay eggs, it goes to the wate. It
can’t stay out for a long time. Now, after the babies hatch, it’s like a race
for them mtoo go to the sea because other predators are waiting for them to eat.
Eagles,, Birds………etc.
As soon as the male turtle
go in the water they don’t come out because they don’t need to. Guess Why? Here
is a clue: why do the females come out to do that the males don’t need to?
Also turtles are useful
because they eat rotten fruits fallen in jungle if they live near a pond. So
they help clean the forest.
Read
And Reflect,
1.
Why is a specific turtle called Olive
Ridley Turtle?
2.
In how many days do turtles hatch?
3.
How many eggs do they lay?
4.
How would you rate turtles as
parents?
Snakes:
Yuck!? Is that what you
are thinking? Not me, they are actually pretty coool. Did you know snakes and
reptiles shed their skin. Not like all at the same time but one by one, when
the wholes skin comes out it’s all together. It has everything. Like it shapes
in it. The print of it’s scales and eyes too. The process is called Ecdysis.
EC- dy-SIS. And when herpetologists (who study reptiles) find a snake shed, they
record where they found it. The shape, the size and then they take this data to
figure out which snake it is. But mostly by the scales. There are different
scales on its body. They go in three groups of the body of the snake. Ventrant,
dormant and cordal a.k.a back, front and on tail. You count the scales on each
of those places, and there are special techniques to count them. After that,
you look in a special book which has the number of scales you counted. If the
book matches all the number of scales you counted, then, it is that snake.
The dormant scales, because they are the
scales that touch the ground, they create friction between the ground the snake’s
body and that will cause the snake to slither easily.
Read
And Reflect,
1.What is the process of
shedding skin called?
2. TRUE or FALSE?
2A: Cordal sclaes mean
scales on the back TRUE or FALSE
2B: Ventrant scales mean
scales on the front TRUE or FALSE
2C: Dormant scales mean
scales in back. TRUE or FALSE
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