Don’t Crowd Me!

Homeschool Web Activity June 2013Houston Zoo

Island Life In the most recent edition of

“Homeschool Happenings”, we learned about animals who have island homes

While many people have a vision of an “island paradise” in their minds, are there any problems that can come from calling an island home?

Island Life Yes! There are problems that can

come from living on an island

One of the issues that may arise is a lack of space since islands typically have a lower carrying capacity than the larger mainland

Carrying Capacity What exactly is carrying capacity?

Carrying capacity refers to the number of individuals a certain habitat or area can support given the resources that are available

Carrying Capacity All animals need certain things to survive and

they must get these things from their habitat

Animals need Food Water Shelter Space

Carrying Capacity

No matter where you are on planet Earth, there will be some resources that are in short supply

For instance: In a desert water is very scarce and hard to

find In a rainforest space is limited In the mountains food might be hard to come

by

Carrying Capacity On an island resources can be even more

limited

There is only so much food, water, shelter and space that can be found on an island

All the animals that live on that island must compete for these resources

Home Life Think about your home

Everyone might have their own bed, a place to put their clothes, enough food to eat and water to drink, as well as an area they can go to and relax

Home Life Now imagine that 5 people moved in

What would happen?

What would happen if 10 people moved in?

How about 30 people?

Home Life Just like an island, your home has a carrying

capacity: a certain number of individuals that can live there and still find everything they need

Once you go above that number, life becomes very difficult!

Zoo Life Here at the Houston Zoo, our exhibits have

carrying capacities as well

We have to look at the needs of our animals (such as space, food, shelter, and water) and make sure that they can get all these things from the exhibits in which they live

Zoo Life We have limited resources in our exhibits

and this limits the amount of animals we can put in those exhibits

Zoo Life Not only do we have to always keep

the carrying capacity of our exhibits in mind, but we also have to take into consideration the individual animals

Some animals are solitary and don’t live in groups in the wild, so we let those animals have their space and keep them alone in the exhibit

All Habitats Remember: whether you are discussing an

island, your home, or an exhibit at the Houston Zoo, they all have a carrying capacity

All these places have a certain number of individuals that can live there and still gain everything they need

Once the number of individuals pass that number, life gets harder and harder

Your turn! Now that you have learned about

carrying capacity, it is time for some fun!

Your turn! Print out the Rainforest Carrying

Capacity Game and instructions

As you play the game, think about how it shows you what we learned about carrying capacity