1. Science - Year 3/4B Summer 1
Animals including humans
The Circle of Life
Session 4
Teaching PowerPoint
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2. What special features does a lion have to help it survive in the wild?
Make a list of these
Eyes that face front to help stalk their prey
Here are some you may have thought of
Big, strong canine teeth to grip onto prey and tear the meat
Powerful jaws to hold onto prey
A coat is that is well camouflaged to make it easier to sneak close to prey without being seen
Powerful muscles for strength and speed when chasing prey
Long sharp claws to hold onto prey
Large rough paws for excellent grip on different surfaces

3. Adaptations What are all these special survival features called?
Eyes that face front to help stalk their prey
Big, strong canine teeth to grip onto prey and tear the meat
Powerful jaws to hold onto prey
Coat is well camouflaged to make it easier to sneak close to prey without being seen
Powerful muscles for strength and speed when chasing prey
Long sharp claws to hold onto prey
Large rough paws for excellent grip on different surfaces

4. Perhaps you thought of some different ones of your own.
Work with a partner to jot down as many adaptations as you can for a rabbit
Here are some you may have thought of
Large funnelled ears that can turn to face in different directions. These are brilliant at detecting approaching predators
Eyes at the side for good all round vision so they can see approaching predators
Large incisors at the front of the mouth to crop the grass and strong molars at the back to chew it up
Powerful back legs for fast hopping to escape predators
A coat that is well camouflaged to avoid being spotted
Strong front legs for digging burrows where they can hide from predators
How many did you get?
Perhaps you thought of some different ones of your own.

5. It is not just lions and rabbits that have special features for survival. Every single creature is perfectly adapted for its own particular diet and life style in its habitat

6. Scientists can tell a huge amount about an animal just by looking at its teeth and skull.
Large eyes on the side of the head for good all round vision. This animal needed to be on the lookout for predators
There are big incisors on the bottom jaw but none at the top. This animal cropped its food by chopping the sharp lower teeth against a hard gum at the top
It’s time to be an animal detective.
Look at the skull of this creature.
Can you tell if it was a predator or prey?
What might it have eaten?
How do you know?
Discuss your ideas
Look at the teeth first, these are your biggest clue!
There are no canine teeth so this animal never ate meat
Some other clues
A loosely fitting lower jaw meant it could move its jaw from side to side for really effective chewing
There are massive molars and premolars. This animal must have spent a long time chewing and grinding food

7. Have you guessed it yet?
A sheep eats grass all day long. It doesn’t eat any meat so it doesn’t need canine teeth, just long sharp incisors to crop the grass and huge strong molars and premolars to chew it up.
Wolves are extinct in Britain now but in the past they were a predator of sheep. In some countries they still are!

8. Here is a wolf skull The eyes face forward to stalk prey
What differences do you notice between this and the sheep’s skull?
Sheep
The lower jaw only moves up and down, not side to side as it crushes and bites off chunks of meat
The wolf has massive canines to grip its prey and tear the meat
The molars are pointy. A meat eater usually bites off chunks to swallow whole rather than grinding up their food.

9. A wolf is a meat eater. The scientific name for this is a Carnivore
A sheep is a plant eater and the scientific name for this is a Herbivore
A wolf is a meat eater. The scientific name for this is a Carnivore
Some animals eat both meat and plants like this badger. It is called an Omnivore
The teeth of an omnivore show features of both carnivores and herbivores – the badger has canines and sharp molars like the wolf, but it also has features of a herbivore - some incisors to bite into fruits and some flat topped grinding molars to chew up plants as well.
Badger’s skull

10. Which label goes in each section?
Carnivore
Which label goes in each section?
Omnivore
Herbivore
Animals that eat meat
Animals that eat plants

11. Discuss which section each animal should go into beginning with the sheep. Click to see if you are right and continue along the row.
Animals that eat meat
Animals that eat plants
Herbivore
Carnivore
Omnivore

12. What about humans? Herbivore, carnivore or omnivore?
We have all types of teeth in our mouths so we are designed to be omnivores but some people prefer not to eat meat.

13. We need to make some animal masks for our Circle of Life presentation
We need to make some animal masks for our Circle of Life presentation. They will be great to help show the audience the difference between carnivores, omnivores and herbivores and how each animal is adapted to its own particular diet.

14. Making animal masks is easy and fun! You will need:
Other collage materials
Cut up egg boxes
Tissue paper
Felt tip pens
A paper plate
Cardboard and paper in different colours
Brushes and paints in animal colours
Scissors, pencils and glue
Masking tape

15. First choose an animal. It helps if you can find a good picture of its face. Then think how to show the main features of the face. Here are some ideas
A pointed face made by cutting away some of the plate
A nose that comes forward, a mane and whiskers
A large pink circular nose with 2 big nostrils
A woolly face and small nose
Tall pointed ears, small nose and whiskers
2 colours on the face and a pointed nose

16. It is easy to make a nose that comes forward by sticking on a section from an egg box. It has been held in place with masking tape which can easily be painted over.

17. You can add features by sticking on coloured paper or card
You can add features by sticking on coloured paper or card. It looks good if you paint the background plate first. Let your imagination fly!