Download WOOLYBOOGER LAB

WOOLYBOOGER LAB
NAME __________________________
DATE _______________ BLOCK _____
INTRODUCTION:
Scene: You and your team are crewmembers on the Beagle in 1831. Darwin has
asked your team to assist him in collecting data on a strange and unusual creature that he
has discovered on the Galapagos Islands. He has called this creature the woolybooger.
Darwin and your team search the islands and find many woolyboogers. During your
observations, you discover that all woolyboogers eat beans. You also discover that
woolyboogers are similar in appearance except for mouth variations. Some woolyboogers
have a knife-shaped mouth, some have a needle-shaped mouth, and some have a forcepsshaped mouth. During your last few months on the islands, you discover a new rare
woolybooger, which has a spoon-shaped mouth.
Your time on the Galapagos Islands has come to an end. You have collected
information on the four varieties of woolyboogers. On the Beagle, Darwin and your team
discuss what you think will happen to the woolybooger population. You wonder what effect
the spoon-shaped woolybooger will have on the other three types over time. You and your
crew come up with an idea on how you could simulate the conditions and the newly
discovered woolybooger to predict what will happen to all four varieties of woolyboogers.
You will now carry out that simulation.
MATERIALS (for a class):
Knives
dissecting needles
forceps
spoons
beans
containers for beans
cups
PROCEDURE:
1. You will run through five trials of feeding by the woolyboogers. You will be assigned
a feeding tool to gather your favorite food, beans. You must use your utensil as
demonstrated to capture food. You cannot scoop the beans into the cup, which
represents your stomach. You must lift the beans, one or two at a time, with your
utensil.
2. You will be required to capture at least 20 beans in a trial in order to survive. If 20
beans are not captured, your woolybooger has died. When a woolybooger dies, in the
next trial you will play the role of the offspring of the most successful surviving
woolybooger (the woolybooger capturing the most beans).
3. The first trial will last 1 minute 15 seconds, the second 1 minute, the third 45
seconds, the fourth 30 seconds and the fifth will be 15 seconds. The teacher will
time the class.
4. Because woolyboogers with spoon-shaped mouths are rare, only a few of you will be
assigned this tool for the first generation of woolyboogers.
DATA TABLE:
Mouth
shape
Knife
At
start
Number of woolyboogers at end of each trial
1 minute
1
45
30
15 seconds
minute
seconds
seconds
15 seconds
Needle
Forceps
Spoon
APPLICATION QUESTIONS (Answers must be in complete sentences):
1. What in the woolybooger experiment makes up each of the 4 parts of natural selection?
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2. How does this experiment with the woolyboogers illustrate evolution?
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3. What happens to animals that cannot compete as well with other animals in the wild?
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4. Sometimes animals or plants (alien species) that are introduced into an area they never
lived in before out-compete and endanger native species. Why do you think this happens?
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5. If only one species is considered the “fittest”, why do we still have so many variations
among species? (Example: variety in bird beaks)
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6. How do you think diseases can affect natural selection? Think about animals and their
diseases, not humans.
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