Designed in conjunction with ACARA curriculum 2016-17

Education Worksheets

Stage Three

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Foreword

For over 40 years, Featherdale Wildlife Park has been welcoming visitors and

introducing them to the incredible fauna of Australia.

Featherdale has come a long way from its humble beginnings as a small

poultry and plant nursery, with a dedicated team of zoo keepers now caring

for over 1,700 individual animals from over 200 different species.

Featherdale is strongly involved in the captive breeding programs of

numerous endangered species including Yellow-footed Rock-wallabies,

Spotted-tailed Quolls, Koalas, Plains Wanderer, Bilby, Regent Honeyeaters

and Woma Pythons.

Featherdale was the first facility in the world to breed White-bellied Sea-

eagles in captivity and second in the world to breed Wedge-tailed Eagles.

Featherdale‟s highly successful Koala breeding program has not only been a

significant contribution to knowledge of the species for research and

conservation, but has also resulted in a large, healthy and genetically viable

colony of Koalas at the park.

Featherdale is dedicated to education, having provided a comprehensive

array of education materials for schools since the early 1970s. Each

Education Kit has been specifically designed to meet the ACARA Science

curriculum as well as integrating key learning areas from English, Geography

and HSIE.

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For the Teacher

General Information

Welcome to Featherdale

Wildlife Park!

Our Wildlife Park is a great place for learning. Our Education team

aims to support student learning by providing resources to assist

classes to have educational and enjoyable experiences at our

park.

This worksheet will provide a range of activities which may be

undertaken by your students during their visit to the park. A map

and suggested order of activities is provided to give a logical circuit

to travel during the visit.

In planning, please consider whether:

You would like your class to regroup for lunch, animal feeds or

exit at the end of your visit. If so, relay times and meeting

places to students and supervisors.

If you have booked a hands-on education lesson, ensure your

students quietly wait outside the „Learning Burrow‟ 5 minutes

prior to your lesson time and have had the opportunity to use

the bathroom and eat something before entering.

If your class is not booked for hands on lesson involving an

education officer, we will attempt to meet your class at the

entrance on arrival at the park. At this meeting the group will be

welcomes and given some information about the park to assist

their visit. General behaviour expectations will also be outlined.

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Pre Excursion

Contact Featherdale‟s Education team to organise a pre-excursion visit if you

have not visited before. Discuss your needs (VERY IMPORTANT)

Apply to principal or school activities coordinator to run an excursion that

meets curriculum requirements.

Make an excursion booking with Featherdale‟s Education team, ensuring that

any special requirements have been discussed.

In the week leading up to the excursion, have students work on the

Pre-excursion worksheets provided by Featherdale.

Motivate students and ensure they understand the purpose of the

excursion and encourage a range of questions during the lesson.

During Your Excursion

Enjoy the park activities and animal encounters with your students

Ensure students are supervised at all times and enter the Farmyard and

Kangaroo Country in small groups (no more than 10 at a time).

Encourage observation skills that lead to a higher level of thinking.

Use questioning techniques that stimulate a quest for knowledge.

Please ensure students are calm and respectful of other visitors and the

animals in the park, and do not display any behaviour that may stress the

animals such as yelling or hitting enclosure walls or glass.

After Your Excursion

Discuss the day and if there are further questions please do not hesitate to

email back for a reply. We love to reply and get feedback from schools and

students.

Look at projects to illustrate learning‟s on the day. Some options could

be: o Setting up a terrarium in class

o Setting up an aquarium in class

o Building a worm farm or a garden using recycled materials

o Building an animal enclosure out of arts and craft items to reflect needs and

wants (food, shelter, water, enrichment etc)

o Organise a rehabilitation area within the school and plant native plants.

o Set up animal signage wall in class reflecting endangered animals,

conservation issues, Australian animals and the like.

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OUTCOMES

A student:

ST3-10LW describes how structural features and other

adaptations of living things help them to survive in their

environment

ST3-11LW describes some physical conditions of the environment

and how these affect the growth and survival of living things

CONTENT

Living things have structural features and adaptations that help

them to survive in their environment. (ACSSU043)

Students:

observe and describe the structural features of some native

Australian animals and plants

present ideas and explanations about how the structural features

and behaviour of some plants and animals help them to survive in

their environment, e.g. shiny surfaces of leaves on sand dune

plants and nocturnal behaviour in some animals

research the conditions needed for a particular plant to grow and

survive in its environment, e.g. an indoor plant, plants in deserts,

drought-resistant wheat or salt-tolerant plants

The growth and survival of living things are affected by the physical

conditions of their environment. (ACSSU094)

Students:

identify some physical conditions of a local environment, e.g.

temperature, slope, wind speed, amount of light and water

make predictions about how changing the physical conditions of

the environment impacts on the growth and survival of living

things, e.g. different amounts of light or water on plant growth or

the effect of different temperatures on the growth of yeast or

bread mould

ACARA SYLLABUS

REQUIREMENTS

6

Use gathered data to develop explanations about how changing

the physical conditions of the environment affect the growth and

survival of living things.

GEOGRAPHY STAGE 3FACTORS THAT SHAPE PLACES

OUTCOMES

A student:

GE3-1 describes the diverse features and characteristics of

places and environments

GE3-2 explains interactions and connections between people,

places and environments

GE3-3 compares and contrasts influences on the management of

places and environments

GE3-4acquires, processes and communicates geographical

information using geographical tools for inquiry

KEY INQUIRY QUESTIONS

How do people and environments influence one another?

How do people influence places and the management of spaces

within them?

How can the impact of bushfires on people and places be

reduced?

CONTENT FOCUS

Students investigate how people change the natural environment

in Australia and other places around the world. They also explore

how the environment influences the human characteristics of

places. Students examine ways people influence the

characteristics of places, including the management of spaces.

Students explore the impact bushfires have on Australian people,

places and environments and propose ways people can reduce the

impact of bushfires in the future.

ACARA SYLLABUS

REQUIREMENTS

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CONTENT

Factors that change environments

Students:

investigate the ways people change the natural environment in

Australia and another country, for example: (ACHGK026,

ACHGK027)

examination of how people, including Aboriginal and Torres Strait

Islander Peoples, have influenced each country‟s

environmental characteristics e.g. land clearing

Environments shape places

investigate how the natural environment influences people and

places, for example: (ACHGK028)

Humans shape places

investigate how people influence places, for example: (ACHGK029)

identification of ways people influence places and contribute to

sustainability e.g. roads and services, building development

applications, local sustainability initiatives F ST

Bushfire hazards

Students:

investigate the impact of ONE contemporary bushfire hazard in

Australia, for example: (ACHGK030)

description of the impact of the disaster on natural vegetation and

the damage caused to communities VR

examination of how people can prevent and minimise the effects

of a bushfire

(Any of these subjects can be incorporated in an education lesson.

Please liaise with our education coordinator and we will tailor the

lesson to your needs)

ACARA SYLLABUS

REQUIREMENTS

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OUTCOMES CONTINUED

Based on Bloom‟s Taxonomy of learning skills we have prepared a

set of topics to discuss and make learning colourful and rewarding,

back in class. These topics can be discussed even if the school

has not had a lesson. Ask for help if you need it. Our education

team would love to assist.

The Six thinking skills include:

Knowledge

List and describe five Australian animals that are endangered

List and describe five Australian Animals that are extinct

Comprehension

Birds are adapted to fly. You would think they, of all living things would be safe

from extinction. They opposite is true! Why are birds so vulnerable to

extinction (hint- What led to some of the most recent bird extinctions?)

Application

As a group organise a scrapbook for endangered animals of the Cumberland

Plains .Explain why these animals are endangered and what can or is being

done to protect them. Illustrate the scrapbook and share with other students.

Analysis

Use any environment or habitat (re application) and discuss with the class

what would happen if some of its environment or habitat changed. Talk about

the changes and how they affect the wildlife. Maybe, conduct a debate.

Synthesis

Australia has many feral animals with most found in our desert environments.

List ways one could control the effects these animals have on our many rare

desert species –Bilby, Bettongs, Northern Hairy Nosed Wombats etc?

Evaluation

Debate the positive and negative aspects of using fire to control plants and

animals in the desert. The first Australians have been doing it for thousands of

years, so it can‟t be bad, can it?

ACARA SYLLABUS

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Revision: What is a living thing?

Write down the definition of the following words.

Movement:

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Respiration:

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

.Sensitivity:

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Nutrition:

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Excretion:

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

Reproduction:

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Growth:

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Did you know that the little

penguin is only the size of a ruler!

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What are the structural features of the

plant? Every plant is made up of different parts.

All its parts have a particular role to ensure its survival:

To make food

To reproduce

To transport and store food within the plant

To absorb water and nutrients.

Label the diagram

………………………………………………

………………………………………………………

………………………………………………….

…………………………………………

Did you know that

flowers move towards

the sun?

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How are animals and plants different! As humans we like order and structure. Think about how a kitchen is set up

or how a group of books are organised. They are all arranged in a way that

allows an individual to find things easily. Look at your own bedroom. Is your

wardrobe tidy? Are your shoes together and tee shirts all in the same pile?

Organising the living world is called classification. The way we classify living

things is by looking at the way they move, how they feed, what senses they

have and their life cycles.

Plants and Animals are living things. They are different, and that sets them

apart. Match the sentence to the living thing by drawing a line to either the

plant or the animal.

There you are. You are now classifying living things!

I stay put and grow in soil. That means I have to

get everything I need where I grow and live.

I need to move around and find food. I may feed on

meat or other plants. I have a mouth, teeth or

beak to help eat and digest the food

I make my own food.

I have eyes and ears for seeing and hearing. I

feel things through my skin or fur and I have a

nose for smelling.

I am covered in fur. Some living things like me are

covered in skin, hair, scales, and even feathers.

I have a covering of bark, leaves and

stem coverings that can be smooth,

coarse, hairy or hard.

I move from place to place by

myself. I legs or limbs to help me

move around.

I respond to the outside world by moving towards the sun.

Some of us close our leaves when they are touched!

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Living things must use energy from the sun to live and move. Animals get

their energy from the food they eat. Plants and animals are part of the

energy cycle. Place the words in the correct picture for energy cycle.

The Energy Cycle

.

Predators Decomposers Scavengers Insectivores

Energy from the sun Herbivores Plant eating insects

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Satin Bower Bird

Birds make their nest in many different ways and in many different places.

Nests can be made from grass, sticks, leaves, flowers, fur, feathers, mud,

moss, cobwebs and they can be decorated too!

Ask one of the keepers walking around where you could find a nest like the

one illustrated above.

Observe and find out:

Which bird built the bower (Male or female)?

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

What is the bower made from?

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

How was it made?

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

How is it decorated?

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

What is the purpose or reason for the bower?

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

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Structural Features

Animals are built in a way that allows them to survive in the wild.

Animals that eat other animals are called Predators.

Predators use their senses to find their prey. Prey have clever ways to protect

themselves in the wild!

Describe how an Echidna would protect itself in the

wild?

……………………………………………………………………………..

…………………………………………………………………………….

……………………………………………………………………………..

Describe how the bearded dragon would protect itself

in the wild?

……………………………………………………………………………..

…………………………………………………………………………….

……………………………………………………………………………..

Describe how the Little Penguin would protect itself in

the wild?

……………………………………………………………………………..

…………………………………………………………………………….

……………………………………………………………………………..

Did you know that

reptiles are solar

powered!

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How do features help animals survive? Many animals have similar but distinct features. These features allow

animals to survive certain environments. These adaptations have allowed all

living things to live a particular lifestyle in a particular habitat. How do these

features allow these animals to survive in their environments or habitats?

Animal Feature How it helps the animal to survive?

Bilby

Tail

Splendid Tree

Frog

moist skin

Woma Python

Colour

Swamp

Wallaby

Hind Legs

Ghost Bats

Echo location

Powerful Owl

Eyes

Koala

Cartilage or

Hard bottom

Did you know that not all lizards lay eggs?

The shingle back Lizard give birth to live

young!

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Animal Adaptations Select an animal from the park that interests you and research how it has

adapted to suit its environment.

Animal

…………………………………………………………………………

Physical Description: Habitat:

Climate:

Special Feature: Adaptations:

Diet:

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Build an Enclosure

Pretend you‟re a zoologist or a keeper and have been asked to design an animal

enclosure at Featherdale Wildlife Park. Use all the information that you have gained

from animal adaptations to design a suitable enclosure for your animal to keep it

healthy and happy! Pick any animal at the park

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Captain Feathersword

A biome is a group of plants and

animals that have adapted to a particular

environment or habitat. Some species are

more adaptable and can be found in more

than one biome while others are unique to

just one. For their survival, plants and

animals have had to develop different ways

of adapting to their environment.

Tawny Frogmouths are a great example

of an animal that can adapt to their

environment. Captain Feathersword is even

more special because as a wild nocturnal

bird he had an accident and has an injured

eye and beak. But you know what; he has

learnt to live with these shortfalls by

adapting. Listen carefully to the lesson! If you

are not doing a lesson find the display and I

am sure you can still answer these easy

questions

What are some of the Tawny‟s adaptations for protection, in the wild?

……………………………………………………………….……………………………………………………

What are some of the Tawny‟s adaptations for feeding, in the wild?

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

What are other special features of the Tawny Frogmouth?

………………………………………………………………..……………………………………………………

Should we release Captain Feathersword into the wild? Explain why?

(If you are not doing a lesson should we be releasing any animal from the

park? discuss)

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………

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Migration

What do Channel Billed Cuckoos eat?

…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………

What do Channel Billed Cuckoo‟s do to other bird nest?

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

Why does the Channel Billed Cuckoo go to New Guinea and Indonesia?

………………………………………………………………………………………………………………..

Migration is the movement of

animals from one place to

another. It may occur seasonally

or just once in a lifetime or

whenever the environment

changes. Migration is often

related to feeding or breeding

cycles.

Many animals migrate but birds

are the best know travellers or

migrants.

Channel billed cuckoos are some of Australia‟s best

known migratory birds. These large fruit eaters come

south to Sydney from Indonesia and New Guinea

and lay eggs in Currawong nests! The young cuckoo

then kicks out all the other eggs and becomes an

only child to the currawong family! It summers down

here and than begins its journey north where it is

warmer to than come back and breed next season!

Find the Channel billed in enclosures marked in the

map and find the answers to the questions!

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Hibernation Hibernation is known as winter sleep, in which

an animal‟s breathing slows down and its

body temperature lowers for a period of days

or weeks depending on its environment. In the

winter, hibernation helps animals conserve

food at a time when food options are limited.

In Australia, most of our animals do not hibernate, they Torpor, which is

sometimes called “temporary hibernation”, It is more of an unplanned time off!

It happens during times when there is no food or when the weather conditions

are poor like say, the middle of winter. Torpor helps animals survive during

periods of intense cold and it‟s a bit like an animal passing out in response to

being too cold; the animal appears dead, but if warmed up, it becomes active

again.

Research an animal that you think sleeps or torpors during winter and answer

the following

Animal Species

Natural Habitat

Main food source

Where it torpors, when and why

Interesting facts

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Natural Environment and human impacts

The first or as we sometimes call them indigenous or aboriginal Australians arrived

about 50,000 years ago. They learnt to live in a difficult environment, but over the years

they became very skilled in the art of hunting and gathering of food. Some aboriginal

families even *farmed special edible plants, like yams and plants that produced seeds

to make a kind of bread! We now also know that some aboriginal peoples, especially on

the coast lived a settled life and did not wonder about the bush or desert like we once

thought .Some First Australians even built amazing traps to help them catch large

animals and fish. They passed these skills on, from generation to generation.

Draw a line from the description to the picture.

It was the woman‟s job to gather small

animals and plants to feed the family.

Special digging tools were used dig out

root vegetables which were then crushed

and thoroughly washed in water.

It was the men‟s job to hunt animals.

They worked in a group using weapons

and traps to catch kangaroos, wallabies,

wombats, emus and galahs. Coastal

communities also made nets and fished.

First Australians also used fire to clear

small areas of vegetation. This burning

allowed many native plants to regrow

quickly which meant they would seed and

fruit much faster. This allowed them to

collect, eat and store food sooner than if

the plants grew naturally.

*Teacher‟s notes .To increase awareness of how wonderful our indigenous

culture is I recommend you read a book called Dark Emu: Balck Seeds by Bruce

Pascoe and discuss it with the class. This book gives some excellent new insights

into indigenous culture and debunks some of our previous held misconceptions

about their hunter gathering and nomadic lifestyles.

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Human Impacts

Water is one of the most important resources on Earth as well as trees.

They both have a role in our environment and lives.

Not only is it important to us but to animals and plants too.

Name 3 positive ways we use water:

1. ……………………………………….

2. ………………………………………

3. ………………………………………

Name 3 positive ways we use trees:

1………………………………………

2. …………………………………….

3………………………………………

Humans change environments. We cut trees, misuse water and pollute. If we

change habitats and environments by misusing these important resources

(water, plants, soil) what do you think would happen to the living things that

make their home in these special places? (Draw a picture or write some notes on

your idea of a dying world)

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Threatened and Endangered

Humans share the earth with many other living things. Unfortunately, some of

the things people do, have caused many of those living things to become

endangered: that is, in danger of becoming extinct or dying out.

Explain why the following animals are endangered in the wild.

Answers are on the enclosures

Koala

Spotted Quoll

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Southern Cassowary

The cassowary is one of our largest birds. It lives in the

Nor thern tropical rain forests of Australia. They eat fruit and

lead a solitary life (they live alone). Males and females get

together once a year from May to October.

After mating the female cassowary lays her eggs. Unlike most other

birds, it is the male cassowary that incubates the eggs and minds

the baby chicks until they are old enough to look after themselves.

Answer the following questions.

Does the cassowary fly?

………………………………………………………………………………………………………

How many toes does it have on each leg?

………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Who looks after the eggs until the baby chicks are hatched?

………………………………………………………………………………………………………

What food would you expect a cassowary to find in the forest?

………………………………………………………………………………………………………

Did you know the Southern Cassowary can swallow any fruit

up to the size of a tennis ball!

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Lesson Project

Fill in this Report about the animal used during the lesson.

Animal

Habitat

Diet

Lifecycle

Special information

Draw me

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Lesson Project

Fill in this Report about the animal used during the lesson.

Animal

Habitat

Diet

Lifecycle

Special Information

Draw me

27

Lesson Project

Fill in this Report about the animal used during the lesson.

Animal

Habitat

Diet

Lifecycle

Special Information

Draw me

28

Lesson Project

Fill in this Report about the animal used during the lesson.

Animal

Habitat

Diet

Lifecycle

Special Information

Draw me

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Sign Project

Make your own sign with an endangered animal from the park

Example

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Glossary

Air: What we breathe into our lungs.

Breathe: When a living thing inhales air.

Burrow: A large hole underground.

Camouflage: When an animal becomes invisible in its home or habitat.

Carnivorous: An Animal that eats another animal, eating only meat.

Change: When a living thing becomes different.

Constrict: A python that squeezes its food very tightly.

Covering: The type of skin an animal has.

Deforestation: When trees are taking down and disappear.

Diet: What an animal eats.

Difference: A thought or way that is not the same

Eggs: A shelled oval thing where birds and some reptiles are born from.

Endangered: An animal that is disappearing in the wild

Environment: The surroundings of a home of an animal.

Eucalyptus: A type of Australian tree.

Extinct: An animal that no longer exist on earth.

Feathers: The body covering of birds.

Food chain: An animal that uses a smaller animal as food.

Fur: The body covering of mammals.

Grow: When a living thing gets bigger in size or changes.

Habitat: The home of an animal, where it lives.

Herbivorous: An animal that only eats plants or vegetation.

Indigenous: An individual that is native to the country.

Lifecycle: The stages of how a baby animal is born.

Live birth: An animal that is born alive.

Living Thing: Is something that breathes moves, grows changes, eats and drinks and has babies.

Marsupial: A mammal with a pouch.

Movement: How an animal gets to one place to another.

Nocturnal: Animal that sleeps during the day and has breakfast at night.

Omnivorous: An animal that eats both other animals and plants.

Predator: An animal that hunts another animal.

Prey: An animal that is used for food.

Purpose: The reason why something is done.

Protect: To keep safe or away from getting hurt.

Scales: The body covering of reptiles.

Shed: When an animal loses its old body covering for a new one.

Shelter: An area where an animal can stay protected from danger.

Slither: The way a snake or python drags itself on the ground.

Slough: When a snake or python start to lose their outer layer of skin.

Spikes: The hard spines on an echidna.

Venom: A toxin that snakes inject from their sharp fangs to make their food die quickly.

Water: What an animal drinks.

31

Draw a picture of your favourite animal at Featherdale.

32

Thank you for visiting

Featherdale Wildlife Park.

We hope you had a fun day with all the animals!

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Page 8 Page 10

Page 11

1. Satin Bowerbird

2. Sticks

3. By the male, placed carefully upright.

4. Its decorated the bower with blue items

5. To attract the female

Page 12

1. An echidna would dig itself in a ditch and flatten its body to expose the

spikes to the predator. Then if any predators come close they jolt their

bodies to hurt them.

2. The bearded dragon would do a thing called Bluff. Where it inflates

itself to look bigger than what it is to scare off predators.

3. The little penguin if threatened on land would go to the water where it

can swim very fast. On land if they are far away from water they would

be very vocal, flap their wings and use their sharp beak to fend off

prey.

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Page 13

1. They use it as a lure to redirect predators when being chased.

2. Moist skin is a slimy coating that keeps them moist and deters

predators, but it also provides some protection against water-borne

illness.

3. The colour provides the woma python with excellent camouflage .

4. The hind legs allow the wallaby to move from place to place and also

protect itself when threatened by kicking its predator.

5. Echo location is a good way for ghost bats to looks for food,

communicate and sence obstacles while flying.

6. For an owl that also would hunt during the day, bright big eyes allows

them to detect movement and prey.

7. The cartilage bottom allows the koalas to have a molded cushion

when sitting tightly on a forked perch.

Page 16

1. Camouflage, Stillness, Colour and Alertness

2. Excellent night vision and soft noiseless feathers (like owls)

3. They build nests, they pair up for life and they can live in every

Australian dry environment.

4. No, in order to survive he would need two eyes to hunt for food and

protect himself from predators.

Page 17

1. Small native or cultivated fruit

2. The male distracts the parents of magpies, currawongs while the

female Channel-Billed cuckoo removes the eggs and lay an egg in the

nest and fly away. Leaving the magpie or currawong rearing the young

channel billed cuckoo chick.

3. It escapes the cold winter in Australia. That‟s because in New Guinea

and Indonesia is warmer.

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Page 18

1. Short Beaked Echidna

2. They live in habitats where they can find food and hide from predators

and are found everywhere in Australia.

3. They eat termites, ants and small insect larvae.

4. It torpors during winter for short periods when food is scarce. It

Torpors in its burrow.

5. The Echidna is a monotreme; it has a pouch and also lays an egg.

Their tongue is 20cm long and it‟s covered in mucus to catch termites

and ants on mounds.

Their back feet face backwards to make it easier to scratch their

heads. It is like having a comb on your back foot!

Page 19

1. Oxygen, Homes, Paper, Shade

2. Shower, to hydrate, to make food grow

3. All living things would die.

4. Taking short showers, Recycling paper and wood, planting trees.

Page 22

1. No

2. 3 toes

3. The male

4. Fruits and small insects

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