CreateACreature

=__ **Welcome to Create A Creature!** __ = An Exploration Into Animal Adaptations

 As a follow up to a unit on animal and plant adaptations, the 4th grade students were asked to ‘create a creature’. 4th graders were presented with 4 fictional planets. They had to choose one of the planets and create a new animal whose adaptations would allow it to survive there. They needed to consider how their animal would eat, move, protect itself from predators, and survive the climate. Their animals included traits that were inherited from animals on our own planet. Once they finished their design, they used everyday objects to build a model of their animals. Pictured below are some of the great creatures that were created! Look below at Conor's Tab Drazil for a sample creature!

 by Conor Over Thanksgiving break, we created creatures, based on the blueprints that we designed. Well, here’s mine. Its name is Tab Drazil. “Tab” is bat spelled backwards and “Drazil” is lizard spelled backwards. So, as my name implies, it’s the offspring of a bat and a lizard. My creature has inherited many traits. I’m going to start out with the structure-like traits. First, since the planet it lives on has poisonous spikes on the ground, it flies. That abiity came from the bat. The Tab Drazil also has sharp claws that help it to climb on trees. It has a long tongue to help catch its prey in the air. Green scales help it hide from predators and prey in the trees. Those are from the lizard. My animal also inherited behavior-like traits. First, it drinks a lot and likes to hide like the lizard. The habitat it lives in is warm and tropical and has water all over the place. My creature eats insects but can get eaten by a big falcon-like bird. Its wings help it fly away from predators and catch its prey. There’s everything you need to know about my creature, the Tab Drazil. 2008-2009 Creatures  
 * The Tab Drazil**

Snowgator by Lucas



 Watch out! It will bite you and not let go! It's the Snowgator. My animal is the offspring of a snow leopard and an alligator. The planet it lives on is very cold and dark. There are tons of mountains and the only plant is fungi. The traits he inherited from the alligator are: a large mouth and sharp teeth to catch and shred prey, rough skin toavoid predators and strong claws to climb mountains. The traits he inherited from the snow leopard are: a heavy furwhich helps him stay warm in the cold climate, strong legs to run fast to catch prey and avoid predators. The white fur also helps it camouflage itself in the snow.   If you come to close, it will bite you! So if you see the Snowgator, be careful! The Cheewin Foxby Shannon

  <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; text-align: left; display: block;">Get out your camera, you don't see this everyday! My creature, the Chewinfox has been spotted on planet on a dark <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"> and cold climate. It's habitat is also very mountainous and the only vegetation that grows her are <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; text-align: left; display: block;">mosses and fungi. <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;"> <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; text-align: left; display: block;">My creature is a Cheewin Fox. It is the offspring of a cheetah and winter fox and has inherited many traits. She inherited her long legs and sharp teeth from the Cheetah. These traits help her catch and eat prey. The Cheewin Foxalso inherited traits from her father, the Cheewin Fox. She has thick fur to help him keep warm. She is also very sneaky, which helps her sneak up on her prey. Its big ears help her hear predators. Finally. she lives in a cave for shelter. <span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; text-align: left; display: block;">I wonder if she will come to Earth! If it does, we will be in trouble! It would jump on us and eat us for breakfast, lunch and dinner because it is a very hungry animal and loves to eat meat! <span style="font-size: 140%; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; text-align: center; display: block;">Buttersnake by Zachariya

My animal's name is the Buttersnake. It is the offspring on a butterfly and a snake. The mom is the butterfly and the dad is a snake. The planet it lives on is hot, wet and tropical. <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; text-align: left;"> The Buttersnake's mom is a butterfly and his dad is a snake. He inherited its wings and antennas from the butterfly and the body and tongue of the snake. It's wings help it fly so it can cool down. He lives in trees and mostly flies everywhere. My animals predators are hawks and it's prey are mice, worms and ants. He avoids predators by flying. I think that it is a good thing that my animal has wings to fly away from predators and stay safe.

<span style="font-size: 140%; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; text-align: center; display: block;">The Birdmonk by Courtney



<span style="font-size: 140%; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; text-align: center; display: block;"> <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; text-align: left;">  Be careful! He will whip you with is tail or fly low toward your head! My creature is called the Birdmonk. He is part bird and part monkey. My Birdmonk inherits his body, wings and feet from its dad, the bird. He inherited his head, arms and tail from his mom, the monkey. My Birdmonk lives on a planet that is tropical, wet and hot. The land is flat and has large pools and lakes. Finally, it has plenty leaves, fruits and nuts. The Birdmonk flies can use trees for shelter. Being both bird and monkey allows him to fly or use his armsand tail to go from tree to tree. He can sit on top of trees and look for food on the ground. He can fly down and use is arms to pick up little rodents. He can also use his arms to eat bananas, other fruits and nuts. The Birdmonk's feathers allow it to blend in with the trees to avoid predators like the hawk. I think it would be great to have a Birdmonk for a pet. I would keep it in a large cage in my room and teach it to do tricks. I would share him with my family and friends. <span style="font-size: 140%; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; text-align: center; display: block;"> The Bobcadile by Scott

<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; text-align: left;">  Keep your eyes peeled for my animal, the Bobcadile. It is the offspring of a Bobcat and a Crocodile. It lives on a damp and mountainous planet. It inherits its dry skin and tail from the crocodile. This helps him swim and catch his prey, a large variety of fish. He also has inherited supersonic hearing and sensitive whiskers from the bobcat. This helps him find prey easily. The Bobcadile's speed is "in the middle", a mix of the speed of the bobcat and the sluggishness of the crocodile. This makes it hard to avoid its predator, the large mountain cats. They have great strength and speed. He tries to avoid these predators by climbing up into the mountains and sleeping in the peaks. The Bobcadile is a very unique animal yet....I still wonder why a Bobcat married a Crocodile! <span style="font-size: 140%; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; text-align: center; display: block;">The Brake by Jackson

<span style="font-size: 140%; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; text-align: center; display: block;"> My animal is a Brake. It is the offspring of a bird and a snake. It lives in the desert. Sometimes it slides for movement and sometimes it flies. For its shelter, it lives in a cave. It uses its wings to avoid the anger of predators. Like a snake, it eats eggs for food and drinks bug's blood when its thirsty. This is how my animal, the brake, survives in the desert. <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; text-align: left;">

<span style="font-size: 140%; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; text-align: center; display: block;">The Pineega by Michael



<span style="font-size: 140%; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; text-align: center; display: block;"> <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; text-align: left;">  My creature's name is Pineega. He is the offspring of an Eagle and a porcupine. My animal is from a planet that has a moderate climate. It has water for part of the year but is dry at the end of the year.

The Pineeaga move slowly like a porcupine so it doesn't get too hot. It uses its wings to fly up to the tall trees and its brown color helps camouflage him. Once he is up there, he creates a shelter with his eagle beak.This helps the Pineeaga avoid predators. It also has porcupine quills to protect him from predators and help him kill prey. These adaptations help him survive on the plane he lives on.

<span style="font-size: 140%; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; text-align: center; display: block;">The Leplion by Danielle



<span style="display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; text-align: left;">  My animal's name is the Leplion. It has inherited many traits from her parents- the Leopard and the the Lion. It has cool Leopard spots on it. Its brown fur helps its blend in with leaves and dirt. . It runs very fast like a leopard. Thishelps him catch prey and avoid predators. It has large brown eyes, a great sense of smell and sharp claws that can dig in the dirt and find its food, which are worms. Its sharp teeth and claws help it eat them.. These adaptations help her survive on her planet. <span style="display: block; font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive; text-align: center; font-size: 200%; background-color: rgb(253, 0, 255);"> media type="custom" key="2870599"

For more information on animal adaptations, go to the following websites:


 * ====[|Animal Adaptations Game]====
 * ====[|Animals on Defense]====
 * [|Creature World]
 * [|PBS Kids- Animal Adaptations]
 * [|Eco Kids- Animal Adaptations]
 * [|Dirtmeister- Investigate Animal Adaptations]
 * [|Dirtmeister- Investigate Animal Adaptations]

<span style="font-family: 'Comic Sans MS',cursive;">Click on the link below to get a form that you can use to research animal adaptations:
 * ====[|Animal Adaptation To Climate Worksheet]====
 * ====To start on your research project click on the [|Animal Adaptations WebQuest]====