shared updated Unit 2 Choice Board Competition

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Ecosystems Choice Board Competition

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10 points

Research & SHARE Extinct Animal

4 points

Mystery Pixel Picture

6 points

Ecosystem Edpuzzle

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Week 1 - Live Class - Ecosystems

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African elephants are the world's largest land animals. These gentle giants live in the grasslands and forests of Africa. They live in small family groups led by an older female. Their huge ears keep them cool, while their long trunks help them eat food and drink water. However, they face many problems that make them an endangered species. One big problem is poaching. People hunt them for their valuable ivory tusks. A single tusk can weigh up to 250 pounds and be sold for $1,500 per pound. Ivory is used to make products like jewelry and statues. Many people buy ivory products without knowing it hurts the elephants. Another challenge is habitat loss. Elephants need big spaces to move around. They lose their homes and food sources as people build cities and cut down trees for farmland. Groups that care about animals are working to create protected areas and national parks where elephants can live safely. These places have lots of space, food, and water. They also stop people from hunting elephants and trading ivory. People are being taught about how important it is to protect elephants.

African Elephants

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Black rhinos are critically endangered animals known for their large size and thick skin. They have a unique horn on their noses made of a material called keratin. Keratin is the same substance found in human hair and fingernails. Some cultures believe that rhino horns can be used as medicine. No scientific evidence supports the claims that rhino horns cure illnesses. However, hunters kill the rhinos and take their horns anyway. The horns are then sold on the black market. The black market is an illegal way to buy and sell goods. The high demand for rhino horns means buyers are willing to pay high prices for them. Many people are working hard to save the black rhinos by creating protected areas where the rhinos can roam freely. Rangers and guards patrol the area to keep the rhinos safe from hunters. Some laws ban the trade of rhino horns. Poachers are caught and punished. Some groups teach the public about black rhinos and how to appreciate and save them. Countries around the world must work together if black rhinos are to be protected from extinction.

Black Rhinos

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Mountain gorillas live high in the mountains of Africa. They are enormous and strong, with thick black fur. Thicker fur helps them survive the cold temperatures. Male gorillas can weigh up to 400 pounds. They like to eat leaves, shoots, stems, and fruits from plants. Mountain gorillas live together in family groups led by a strong male gorilla called a silverback. These gorillas are in danger of disappearing forever. Only about 1,000 of them remain in the whole world. One big threat for these gorillas is that people are cutting down the forests where they live. When the trees are gone, the gorillas do not have enough food or a safe place to live. When humans enter their forests, the gorillas can catch human diseases. They are often injured in traps set for other animals. But people are working very hard to help the mountain gorillas. There are special places called national parks where the gorillas can be safe. These parks have rangers who protect the gorillas from hunters. People also learn about the gorillas and visit the parks to see them, which raises money. The money is used to take care of the gorillas and their homes.

Mountain Gorillas

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Red wolves have reddish-brown fur, a special mask on their faces, and slim bodies. They are very good at hunting small animals such as rabbits, rodents, and raccoons. Many red wolves lived in the southeastern United States long ago, but now only a few are left. They are in danger of disappearing forever because their homes have been taken away, people have hurt them, and they have mixed with coyotes. Often landowners mistake them for coyotes and shoot them. People have been trying to help the red wolves for a long time. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service made a plan in the 1970s to keep them from going extinct. They created places where red wolves could live safely and have babies. Although the breeding programs have been successful, red wolves barely exist in the wild. Today, they can only be found in a small area of North Carolina. Scientists and others are working together to help the red wolves. They protect the places where red wolves live, put them back in safe areas, and teach others about them. They hope red wolves will return to live happily in the southeastern United States again.

Red Wolves

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Dodos were flightless birds that lived on an island called Mauritius. They thrived because they had no natural enemies. There are drawings, paintings, and written accounts of what Dodos looked like. A dodo was about three feet tall and weighed up to 45 pounds. It had a chubby body, short wings, and a big hooked beak. The feathers were mainly grayish-brown, with curly ones on the rear end. Unfortunately, things went wrong for Dodos when European explorers came to the island in the late 1500s. Since the birds were comfortable around humans, it was easy for men to hunt them for food. The explorers also brought animals like dogs, cats, rats, and pigs, which wrecked the dodo's habitat. The combination of hunting and changes to their environment caused the dodo population to decrease quickly. The final recorded sighting of a dodo was in 1662. By 1700, they were all gone. Scientists do not know much about how dodos behaved or what they were like because only a few complete dodo bodies were saved. These remains are studied to try and understand their lives better. By doing this, scientists learn more about how ecosystems used to work a long time ago.

Dodo Birds

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Billions of passenger pigeons used to fly in the skies over North America. These graceful birds had slender bodies with beautiful blue-gray feathers. They had long, pointed wings that let them fly over long distances quickly and easily. Passenger pigeons liked to gather in huge groups called pigeon roosts. Their flapping wings and constant cooing created a kind of musical concert in the air. They also played an essential role in nature. They helped shape the forests of North America by eating and nesting in certain trees. Their habits affected where the trees grew and how the forests grew back. Sadly, humans caused the passenger pigeons to disappear. Flocks were so thick that hunting and killing many at once was easy. People also destroyed their homes by setting them on fire. The pigeons lost their main food sources of acorns and beech nuts. The last known passenger pigeon, Martha, died in captivity at the Cincinnati Zoo in 1914. The extinction of these once-plentiful birds reminds people how much human actions can hurt the natural world.

Passenger Pigeons

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Thylacines lived in Australia, Tasmania, and New Guinea. They were also called Tasmanian tigers or Tasmanian wolves. Thylacines were marsupials that carried their babies in a pouch. They had a unique look with a thin body and yellow-brown fur with dark stripes on its back that looked like tiger stripes. Its tail was also striped and carried stiffly like a kangaroo tail. Thylacines were nocturnal and carnivorous. They had jaws that could open unusually wide. They disappeared first on the mainland of Australia. Some thylacines existed on the island of Tasmania until the 1930s. They became extinct for many reasons. European settlers took over their habitats for grazing land. The settlers believed thylacines were eating their livestock. Cash bounties were paid to hunters for their dead bodies. Wild dogs competed with them for food. Diseases shortened their life spans. The last known thylacine died in a zoo in 1936. No thylacines have been found since then, although many people have claimed to have seen one.

Thylacines

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Woolly mammoths once roamed the Earth during the last Ice Age. They lived in large northern hemisphere areas. Awooly mammoth had shaggy fur and long, curved tusks. It could be 10-12 feet tall and weigh 6-8 tons. A thick layer of fat underneath the skin was an adaptation that helped it survive in harsh, cold environments. These herbivorous giants grazed on grasses, sedges, and willow. Their large size and incredible strength allowed them to bulldoze through snow and ice. These paths helped other animals find food and water for other animals during the icy winters. Woolly mammoths became extinct around 4,000 years ago because of warmer weather and hunting by humans. However, remains of wooly mammoths have been preserved in the frozen tundras of Siberia. Scientists studying the remains have learned important facts about their structure and habits. Some believe that DNA from their teeth could be used to bring the wooly mammoth back to life. Others are not sure that recreating them would be the right thing to do.

Woolly Mammoths

Click the link to access all 3 activities below to earn points. Complete as many activities as you can!

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10 points

Article & Crossword

4 points

Meme War

6 points

Patterns PaDlet

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Week 2 - Live Class - Populations

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10 points

Make a Passport

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4 points

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Vocab. Bingo

6 points

Spin the Wheel

WEEK 3 - Live Class - Human Impacts

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