Marine Math A 4 th Grade Field Trip Guide to The Texas State Aquarium STUDENT BOOKLET Copyright Erin Saenz, 2010. Permission granted for educational purposes only. This permission does not extend to copying for promotional purposes, creating new collective works, or resale.
NEARSHORE GALLERY Nearshore organisms must adapt to life in the open water or on the sandy bottom. Rock jetties, built to maintain open channels to inland ports, provide shelter and permanent homes for many marine organisms. Backbay Marsh - American Alligator Did you know that the American Alligator is the largest reptile in North America? The average size for an adult female is 8.2 feet (2.6 m), and the average size for a male is 11.2 feet (3.4 m). After the alligator reaches a length of 4 feet long, it is considered safe from predators (except for humans and occasionally other alligators). Estimate the length (in feet) of these alligators: Some males can reach a weight of 1,000 pounds. They may live to be about 50 years in the wild. Estimate how much more it weighs than you. 1
EAGLE PASS Bald Eagle- Grace is a majestic and powerful bird that calls Eagle Pass home. Bald Eagles are unique to North America and have been the national symbol of the United States since 1782. Grace is originally from Alaska and made her journey to South Texas and the Aquarium in May 2007. Female bald eagles are larger than males, having a wingspan of up to 8 feet and reaching 14 pounds in weight. Males generally measure 3 feet from head to tail, have a wingspan of about 6 ½ feet, and weigh between 7 and 10 pounds. Grace weighs just less than 12 pounds and has a wingspan of 6 feet. What is your wingspan? Measure your wingspan at the station to the right of the eagle. When you get back to school, combine your wingspan measurement with your classmates and create a graph of the data. Life of a Salt Marsh - Stingrays In order to protect themselves from predators, stingrays have poisonous spines with sharp, pointy barbs on the bases of their tails. If a stingray is threatened or stepped on, it raises its tail overhead, scorpion style, and drives its spine into the intruder. Ouch! The length of the tail of a stingray is supposed to be 3/4 of the total length, with the body making up the other 1/4. Estimate the length of both the body & tail of two different size stingrays. Represent your estimate as a fraction. (Example: ½ tail, ½ body) Stingray #1 Tail Stingray #2 Tail LIVING SHORES Body Body Touch Pool Take some time to touch and explore the animals in the Living Shores Touch Pool. Be careful to touch those only in the pool where you are allowed. There is a pool where no touching is allowed!!! Pencil Sea Urchin Hermit Crab 9 2
Which animal do you think is the heaviest (most mass)? What is a good estimate of its mass?(in grams or ounces) Which animal is the largest (most volume)? Hermit Crab - They have five pairs of legs, including a pair of claws. One claw is much larger than the other the hermit crab uses it for defense and food shredding and the smaller claw for eating. The second and third pair of legs help the crab walk, and the last two pair hold the hermit crab in its shell. Do you see all five pair of legs? About how much bigger is the large claw than the small claw (in centimeters)? Look at the huge hermit crab on the wall. About how many times bigger is it than a hermit crab in the pool? Pencil Urchin Pencil urchins have a body pattern that repeats itself five times around like a star. Each of the five arms acts independently, with no central control; echinoderms have no head or brain. 1. Sketch a pencil urchin 2. Sketch what it showing its symmetry. would look like if it was not symmetrical. AMAZON Prehensile Tailed Porcupine This interesting looking creature is a large, tree-dwelling rodent that is covered with stout, barbed quills. The tail of this porcupine does not have quills at the tip which is designed for grasping and hanging onto tree branches. Adult porcupines grow 3 to 4 feet long with half of the length being its tail. They weigh between 9 and 12 pounds. Doesn t he look heavier? Estimate the body length (in feet). Estimate the tail length (in feet). Is the tail half the length of the body length? 3 8
Sharks When most of us think of sharks, we think of a big scary creature that can eat us with their large, sharp teeth! Sharks are actually very amazing fish that have been around for over 400 million years. Unlike other fish, sharks have no bones. Their skeleton is made up of cartilage- a very lightweight, rubbery material. Shark cartilage continues to grow as long as they live. There are around 400 different species of sharks. Sharks come in all different sizes and shapes. The biggest shark is the whale shark (up to 50 feet long) and the smallest shark would fit into the palm of your palm. Sand Tiger Shark - Hans, a sand tiger shark, makes his home at the Texas State Aquarium. The sand tiger shark can grow over nine feet in length and weigh 200-300 pounds. Unlike any other shark, it can remain motionless in the water to await the approach of its prey. Find Hans in the tank. Estimate his length (in feet). How does his length compare to your height? Nurse Shark Nurse sharks are slow-moving bottomdwellers. You will probably find the nurse shark at the bottom of the tank. They will often rest on the sea floor during the day in groups of up to 40 sharks, sometimes piled on top of each other! That would be a scary sight! Nurse sharks range in size from about 2-14 feet long. Their weight ranges from 200 330 pounds. Estimate the nurse sharks length (in feet). How does it compare to the length of the sand tiger shark? Is it longer or shorter? 7 CYLINDER TANK Crevalle Jack- Young Crevalle Jacks travel together in schools, but they prefer solitude as they get larger. Something interesting about them is that they are able to produce a grunting or croaking sound! Find one fish and try to keep an eye on it. Count how many times the fish makes a complete circle around the tank in one minute. At this rate, how many circles will it make in 10 minutes? How about in one hour? 4
Life in the Water Column Bottom Dwellers Arrow Crab- Do you see the arrow crab? Doesn t it look just like a daddy long-legs? It sure does have long legs! The arrow crab s 8 spider-like legs may be three times as long as its body! Imagine your legs being that long. Estimate the length (in inches) of one of the legs. Estimate the length (in inches) of the body. Are the legs about three times as long as the body? ISLANDS OF STEEL Oil and gas production platforms create islands in the vast open water of the Gulf. These man-made structures provide rare hard surfaces upon which barnacles, corals, sponges, and oysters grow. Within months, the bare steel of the artificial reef is covered with marine life, the basis of a diverse marine community. This exhibit is full of geometry! Do you see all of the angles and lines on the oil platform? Look up at the ceiling, there s more! Name 4 shapes that you see. Name 2 angles that you see. Sketch and label the different shapes and angles that you see in the oil platform. 5 6