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Zoo Education is a

partnership between:

Maintaining

a Balance

Biology – Stage 6

© Taronga Zoo Education Centre 2015 These sheets may be reproduced for teaching purposes. Permission to reproduce them for other purposes may be obtained from Taronga Zoo Education Centre.

Maintaining a Balance

Zoo Education

Taronga Zoo – Stage 6 Education Resource 2

This resource is to be used as part of an excursion to Taronga Zoo. The

resource and related workshop is linked to the NSW School Curriculum and has

been developed in consultation with Department of Education and Training

Curriculum Coordinators and NSW School Teachers. It is a comprehensive kit of

information and activities designed to ensure maximum benefit to you during

your excursion to Taronga Zoo.

Contents

Introduction 3

NSW School Curriculum Links 3

Excursion Options 4

Prior Knowledge and Experience 4

Pre-visit Activities 5

At the Zoo 6

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NSW School Curriculum Links

Stage 6 Biology

9.2 Maintaining a Balance

Taronga Zoo exhibits a range of animals which will enable students to develop

an excellent understanding of the adaptations animals have to maintain a

balance within the narrow limits for survival.

The activities detailed in this resource address the following syllabus related

topics:

Compare responses of named Australian ectothermic and endothermic

organisms to changes in the ambient temperature and explain how these

responses assist temperature regulation.

Analyse information from secondary sources to describe adaptations and

responses that have occurred in Australian organisms to assist temperature

regulation.

Analyse information from secondary sources to compare and explain the

differences in urine concentration of terrestrial animals, marine fish and

freshwater fish.

Use available evidence to explain the relationship between the conservation

of water and the production and excretion of concentrated nitrogenous

wastes in a range of Australian insects and terrestrial mammals.

The ‘Maintaining a Balance’ excursion to Taronga Zoo also provides students

opportunities to further develop skills in communicating information and

understanding, scientific thinking, problem solving and working individually and

in teams.

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Excursion Options

Option One

- Students present pre-prepared talks in groups to the class using an

animal and its exhibit as a visual aide

- Students take notes on provided worksheets

- Zoo Educator provides extra information and or clarification

- Hands on encounters with animals

- Student worksheet trail in Zoo grounds

Option Two

- Zoo Educator presents information

- Students take notes on provided worksheets

- Hands on encounters with animals

- Student worksheet trail in Zoo grounds

Prior Knowledge and Understanding

It would be most beneficial if students had the following prior knowledge and

understanding before their visit to the Zoo.

- the maintainence of a constant internal environment is important for

optimal metabolic efficiency

- homeostasis

- endothermic and ectothermic

- the process of diffusion and osmosis

- passive and active transport

- the role of the kidney

- the processes of filtration and reabsorption in the mammalian nephron

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Pre-visit Activity

If your class chooses Excursion Option One – ‘Student Presentations’, the

following activity must be completed before the students visit Taronga Zoo on

their excursion.

Pre-Zoo research task

During the lesson on your Taronga Zoo excursion day, your students (in groups)

will be asked to present information to the rest of their class. It is essential that

the groups come prepared with their presentation.

Divide the class into 5 groups and assign each group one of the following

animals:

- Green Tree Frog

- Short-beaked Echidna

- Shingleback Lizard

- Red Kangaroo

- Saltwater Crocodile

Groups of students are to prepare a talk (duration 5 mins), describing the

adaptations or responses of their given animal that assist with temperature

regulation and water conservation.

Things to consider:

- the talk will be presented with the actual animal in view, so reference to

the animal, its surroundings, enclosure provisions and its behaviour must

be made. Some of this cannot be pre-prepared (eg. behaviour of animal,

features of exhibit).

- Time will be given before the presentation to study the animal’s enclosure

and surroundings in order collect ‘evidence’ to support the information

being provided, eg. find kangaroo faeces, shade structures, interpret the

animal’s behaviour.

- Further information and discussion will be provided by the Zoo Educator

after each presentation.

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At the Zoo

There are two options available for this excursion:

1. Student Presentations

2. Lesson with Zoo Educator

Both options are approx 60 minutes duration and include animal encounters.

(see page 4 for details on these options)

Seal Presentation

Seals are exceptional thermoregulators, needing to cope with temperature

extremes both in water and on land. Watching this special presentation will

provide students with an excellent opportunity to extract information about seal

thermoregulation from expert marine mammal keepers.

A notes page is provided for students at the back of this rescource.

Presentation time: This presentation is subject to staff availablity. Please

contact Taronga Zoo’s Education Centre to confirm.

Excursion Worksheets

Copy the following worksheets for your students to complete in their free time at

the Zoo. The questioning is designed to have students apply their knowledge of

thermoregulation and water balance from a captive husbandry point of view.

Students will also be challenged on their ethical attitudes towards keeping

animals in captivity.

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Koala

Provide possible explanations for the koala facts given below in relation to

thermoregulation and/or water balance.

Describe features of the exhibit that assist in the thermoregulation of the koala.

………………………………………………………………………………………………

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Suggest what Zookeepers could do to avoid heat stress in koalas on a 40Cº day.

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Brain size – 0.2% of body weight

.………………………………………

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Water intake – 400ml per day

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Back fur – very high insulation

Chest fur- low insulation

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………………………………………. Posture – temperature dependant

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Activity – nocturnal, sleeps 18hrs per day

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Faeces – dry pellets

Urine – highly concentrated urea

……………………………………………

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Koala is an Aboriginal word meaning

‘no drink’

No sweat glands, do not pant

……………………………………

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Core temperature - 35-36Cº.

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Corroboree Frog

The Corroboree Frog exhibit is kept at a temperature of 5Cº. These tiny frogs

can survive comfortably in temperatures ranging from 0Cº to 30Cº. Suggest a

reason for the deliberate lowering of the temperature of the frogs’ surroundings.

………………………………………………………………………………………………

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Changes posture when basking

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Lays eggs in sphagnum moss

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Tadpoles hatch in winter, already with hind legs

and without gills

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Fertilised eggs rapidly enlarge as

they fill with water

……………………………………

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Uric acid is stored when the frog is out

of water

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Tadpole growth-rate slows over winter months

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Black-headed Python

Many snakes are ambush predators, spending up to 3 weeks lying motionless to

fool potential prey into approaching. Give an explaination as to how a snake can

do this yet also thermoregulate so that their body temp is high enough to digest

prey.

………………………………………………………………………………………………

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Some Australian snakes give birth to live young (the eggs hatch before they

young emerge). Hypothesize why this may be an adaptation to cope with cold

temperatures.

Behaviour - nocturnal in warm weather, diurnal

in cold weather

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Head section is black

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Incubation - coil around eggs and ‘shiver’

……………………………………………………

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Basking behaviour

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Skin is impermeable

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Found in arid conditions

Feeding – greatly reduced in cooler months

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Lacks sensory heat pits for detecting

endothermic prey

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Asian Elephant

An elephant weighing 2000000g has a skin surface of roughly 100000 cm².

A rat weighing 300g has a body surface of 300 cm².

Compare the surface area to volume ratios of these two mammals.

………………………………………………………………………………………………

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Make a general statement comparing the ability of large and small animals to

give up their heat?

………………………………………………………………………………………………

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Use this information to postulate what would happen if elephants did have sweat

glands all over their body rather than large ears.

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Ear flapping – blood temp drops over 8Cº

as it passes through the ears

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Dust bathing behaviour

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Core temperature - 36-37Cº

Skin – 3cm thick on legs and back, paper thin

on chest and abdomen

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Throat pouch – contains stored

water which can be drawn out

by trunk

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Sweat glands only found between toes

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Skin surface area is twice as

large as needed

……………………

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250 litres of water consumed

daily

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Andean Condor

When an Andean Condor drops down to ground for feeding its body may

experience a temperature shift from l2Cº to 40Cº. How do you think Andean

Condors cope with this extreme?

………………………………………………………………………………………………

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Spreads wings in morning

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Defecates on legs in hot weather

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Retracts bare head into tuft of neck feathers when flying at

high altitudes

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Body temperature drops by several degrees overnight

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Countercurrent heat exchange in feet

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Birds do not sweat

Many folds of bare skin on head

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Fluff feathers when cold, smooth

feathers when hot

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Maintaining a Balance

Zoo Education

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Snow Leopard

Observe the Snow Leopards and note any thermoregulatory behaviour.

………………………………………………………………………………………………

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What features of the Snow Leopard exhibit are designed to reduce the incidence

of heat stress.

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How might these Snow Leopards cope (in terms of thermoregulation) if they

were removed from the Zoo and placed in the Himalayas tomorrow?

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Tail – 1 m long

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Fur on body – 5cm long

Fur on tail – 8cm long

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Small ears

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Fur covered toe pads

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Temperature - can tolerate 50 Cº

below zero

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Sheds coat annually

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Altitude – 1500 - 5000 m

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Enlarged upper nasal chamber

and sinuses

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Maintaining a Balance

Zoo Education

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A long way from home

Locate a Zoo animal that is originally from a location/climate markedly different

to the climate and conditions found in Sydney.

Do you feel the animal is suitable for Sydney’s Taronga Zoo? Explain.

………………………………………………………………………………………………

………………………………………………………………………………………………

Find out why the animal is part of the Zoo collection.

2. Label the animal with possible responses the animal may have had in order to cope with its new environment.

1. Draw the animal in its exhibit.

3. Label the features of the exhibit that have attempted to assist the animal’s ability to cope in its new environment.

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Zoo Education

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Zoo Education

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Seal Presentation Notes

Maintaining a Balance

Zoo Education

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Short-beaked Echidna

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Zoo Education

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Red Kangaroo

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Zoo Education

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Green Tree Frog

Maintaining a Balance

Zoo Education

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Shingleback Lizard

Maintaining a Balance

Zoo Education

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Saltwater Crocodile