Creature Feature Specifics...
Environments
Choose one environment to design your creature
Remember the creature must be completely fictitious and have no
resemblance to any living creature
Wetlands are areas of standing water that support aquatic plants.
Marshes, swamps, and bogs are all considered wetlands. Plant species
are adapted to the very moist and humid conditions. These include
pond lilies, cattails, sedges, tamarack, and black spruce. Marsh
flora also includes such species as cypress and gum. Wetlands have
the highest species diversity of all ecosystems. Many species of
amphibians, reptiles, birds (such as ducks and waders), and furbearers
can be found in the wetlands.
The seasons are generally warm throughout the year and very hot in the
summer. The winters usually bring little rainfall. Temperatures
exhibit daily extremes because the atmosphere contains little humidity
to block the Sun’s rays. Many mean annual temperatures range from
20-25° C. The extreme maximum ranges from 43.5-49° C.
Minimum temperatures sometimes drop to -18° C. Soils are course-textured,
shallow, rocky or gravely with good drainage and have no subsurface water.
Plants are mainly ground-hugging shrubs and short woody trees. Trees
tend to be small, thick and covered with a thick cuticle (outer layer).
In the cacti, the leaves are much reduced (to spines) and photosynthetic
activity is restricted to the stems. The animals include small nocturnal
(active at night) carnivores. The dominant animals are burrowers and kangaroo
rats. There are also insects, arachnids, reptiles and birds. The animals
stay inactive in protected hideaways during the hot day and come out to
forage at dusk, dawn or at night, when the desert is cooler.
These deserts are characterized by cold winters with snowfall and high
overall rainfall throughout the winter and occasionally over the summer.
They occur in the Antarctic, Greenland and the Nearctic realm. They have
short, moist, and moderately warm summers with fairly long, cold winters.
The mean winter temperature is between -2 to 4° C and the mean summer
temperature is between 21-26° C. The winters receive quite a
bit of snow. The mean annual precipitation ranges from 15-26 cm.
The soil is heavy, silty, and salty. The plants are widely
scattered. The main plants are deciduous; most plants having spiny
leaves. Widely distributed animals are jack rabbits, kangaroo rats,
kangaroo mice, pocket mice, grasshopper mice, and antelope ground squirrels.
All except the jackrabbits are burrowers. The burrowing habit also
applies to carnivores like the badger, kit fox, and coyote. Several
lizards some burrow. Deer are found only in the winter.
Tropical forests are characterized by the greatest diversity of species.
They occur near the equator, within the area bounded by latitudes 23.5
degrees N and 23.5 degrees S. One of the major characteristics of
tropical forests is their distinct seasonality: winter is absent, and there
are only two seasons, rainy and dry. The length of daylight is 12
hours and varies little. Temperature is on average 20-25° C and
varies little throughout the year: the average temperatures of the three
warmest and three coldest months do not differ by more than 5 degrees.
Precipitation is evenly distributed throughout the year, with annual rainfall
exceeding 2000 mm. Soil is nutrient-poor and acidic. Decomposition
is rapid and soils are subject to heavy leaching. Canopy in tropical
forests is multi-layered and continuous, allowing little light penetration.
Flora is highly diverse: one square kilometer may contain as many as 100
different tree species. Trees are 25-35 m tall, with buttressed trunks
and shallow roots, mostly evergreen, with large dark green leaves. Plants
such as orchids, bromeliads, vines (lianas), ferns, mosses, and palms are
present in tropical forests. Fauna include numerous birds, bats,
small mammals, and insects.
Design, draw, and color BOTH your creature and your environment.
Be sure the following bullets are clearly indicated in your drawing:
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What it eats and how it gathers food
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how it is adapted for moving around
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how it avoids predators
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how it is adapted to the temperature of the environment
Remember to included at least one from each type of adaptation (structural,
physiological, and behavioral).
On the back, write at least one sentence for each bullet above explaining
how your adaptation is beneficial.