We have found some rather strange animals but don’t know what they’re called. Can you find their proper name and some information about them?

We have found some rather strange animals but don’t know what they’re called. Can you find their proper name and some information about them?

• START

Q1. Does it live underwater?

• Yes

• No

Does it have spikes?

• Yes

• No

Puffer Fish

• The puffer fish is also known as the blowfish, fugu, swellfish and globefish. It is called the puffer fish because when it is threatened it swells to twice it’s normal size to scare away predators. Certain parts of the puffer fish contain a poison that could paralyse or kill a human. Fugu is eaten in Japan but only when cooked by a specially trained chef.

• FINISH

Kohaku Fish

• FINISH

• The kohaku fish is a tropical fish usually found around the warm waters of Australia. Kohaku fish come in various colours and can grow to around 20cm in length. People who have tropical aquariums tend to keep kohaku because of their bright iridescent colour.

Does it have wings?

• Yes

• No

Does it have a beak?

• Yes

• No

Blue morpho butterfly

• FINISH

• The blue morpho butterfly is a tropical butterfly, usually found in rainforests from Brazil to Venezuela. The females are not as bright as the males and have brown wings with white spots. The caterpillars of the blue morpho butterfly are a reddy-brown with patches of lime green. The adults drink the juices of rotting fruit!

Victoria riflebird

• FINISH

• The Victoria riflebird is native to Australia and was named after Queen Victoria. The male is jet black with a green head, throat and tail that sparkles in the sun’s rays while the female is a very plain brown colour. An adult bird is around 25cm and lives on a diet of insects and fruit. Females decorate their nests with snake skin!

Does it have a patterned tail?

• Yes

• No

Red panda

• FINISH

• Red panda are most closely linked to the racoon although are similar to the giant panda and bears. The main part of their diet is bamboo with an adult eating around 200’000 bamboo leaves a day! The Chinese name for the red panda is ‘hunho’ or firefox because of it’s colour and similar size to a fox.

Mouse lemur

• FINISH

• The mouse lemur is less well known that it’s cousin, the ring tailed lemur. Like all lemurs, they are only found wild on the island of Madagascar and are mainly nocturnal animals. Their tails are twice as long as their bodies, usually measuring around 13cm with their bodies only being around 6cm! They live on a diet of fruit, flowers and insects.

Have you identified all 6 animals?

• Yes, I have identified all 6 animals?

• No, I still need to identify some other animals?

Extension Activity

• Pick one of the groups below to make a branching database on. Start to think about what questions you will need to ask to classify them and what each page of your branching database will look like.

Cat	Dog
Worm	Snake

Square	Rectangle
Cuboid	Cube

Train	Car
Motorbike	Bicycle