Lesson 5 • Animal needs—space and shelter

All animals have the same basic physical needs for survival.

Sufficient space 

Animals require adequate space to ensure that enough food, shelter, and room to move is available. A larger animal population requires a larger area to live in. Room to move is particularly important to an animal's body condition. Movement keeps their bodies and bones strong. Insufficient movement leads to weakened bones and muscle deterioration. Most animals will move enough during their daily activities to keep their bodies healthy.

Shelter 

Animals need shelter for two main reasons: to hide from predators and to avoid extremes in temperature, which can be lethal. Having shelter also allows animals to sleep, which is essential for optimum health, but is a time when animals are especially vulnerable to predators. Some animals dig burrows or dens for shelter, some shelter in tree hollows or high branches, some seek the protection of rocks and caves, whilst others, such as crabs and turtles, grow their own protective shells.

A species-appropriate diet 

All animals require food as a source of energy and essential nutrients for their bodies. These nutrients help build and maintain their bodies and include minerals, carbohydrates, fats, proteins, and water. The food they consume must be appropriate for their biological needs. Humans, for example, need to eat protein and ingest calcium to be able to build bones and muscle. Certain minerals, such as salt, are necessary to the body but can cause problems if too much is eaten. Understanding the nutritional needs of humans is the basis of food science.

Adequate water 

Animals need water for survival. Some water can be obtained from the food they eat, but if this is insufficient, then they need to consume water separately. Water has many different properties that make it essential to life: 

• Many things will dissolve in water, making it a good solvent. Therefore, it can be used to carry substances around the body and to take toxins away, for example, in urine. 
• Water is an essential part of many chemical reactions that cells of different organisms carry out to maintain life. 
• When water evaporates it cools the surface from which it evaporates. Some animals sweat in order to cool down. Panting or a wet nose achieves the same effect of cooling an overheated animal.

Air 

Animals, including humans, need oxygen from the air to live. Animals use oxygen to break down complex molecules and access the stored energy in carbohydrates. 
Land-based animals breathe in air to dissolve oxygen into their bloodstream. Breathing also allows animals to expel carbon dioxide, produced when sugars are broken down. When carbon dioxide becomes concentrated in the bloodstream it can damage cells. 

Aquatic animals, such as fish, can access oxygen dissolved in the water around them and release carbon dioxide back into it. Goldfish can be seen pumping water across their gills, which is the equivalent of breathing. 

During physical exercise, complex molecules, such as sugars, are broken down to release energy. This process uses oxygen and releases carbon dioxide. The heart rate increases to speed up the delivery of oxygen in the bloodstream to the necessary parts of the body and to remove carbon dioxide faster. As the energy is accessed, some is used by the body and some is transformed into heat energy, which is why exercise warms the body. 

 

Humans are classified by scientists as mammals, which are part of the animal kingdom. While there are differences between humans and other animals it is important to recognise that there are also many similarities as they share the same basic physical needs.

Animals are often considered to have social and/or emotional needs such as love, care, and connection through familiar and friendship bonds. This is particularly true of humans, but has also been observed in varying degrees in other animal species.

Students might believe that life spontaneously appears from non-living things. For example, a butterfly comes from an immobile pupa, which students might believe is not alive because it does not move. Similarly, students might not consider seeds and eggs to be alive. 
You might choose to address this by showing the hatching of the peregrine falcon's chicks. This occurs in early October and there are also many pre-recorded videos showing chicks hatching, for example FalconCam 2024 10 04 First hatch.

Young students can think concretely about individual organisms (living things). However, the concept that organisms depend on their environment is not well developed. This is addressed as students discuss how the environment provides the essentials that animals need to survive.

Many students do not have an accurate understanding of the internal structure of the human body. They might think that food and drink go to different places in the body, or that there is just one cavity inside the body, where food, water and air are stored. Some students think that the air we inhale simply comes back out of our bodies unchanged, or that it goes to the same place food goes.

Students might have difficulty understanding the role food plays in the body. They might not connect the intake of food to their growth and wellbeing, as they would be unaware that some chemicals in food are used to build and repair cells and that cells need various nutrients and energy to reproduce and stay healthy. Other chemicals are broken down to release stored energy to be used for physiological processes. 

Whilst it is not necessary to go into the detail covered above at this year level, there are opportunities to address these ideas as students explore an animal’s need for food. Highlighting that food helps all living things grow and stay healthy will suffice at this year level.

Because humans cannot breathe under water, students might think that aquatic animals don't need oxygen. However, they still need oxygen to release energy from their food. Aquatic mammals such as dolphins and whales obtain oxygen from the air in the same way that humans do. Fish can access oxygen dissolved in water using their gills. There is opportunity to address this as students discuss and examine images of different animals, including those that live in the ocean and the features these animals have that allow them to breathe.

Sharing ideas with a partner or small group before whole class sharing time can encourage more students to get involved in class discussion. The strategies below encourage this by providing students thinking time and allowing them to 'sense-check' their ideas before sharing them with the whole class. It might also remove some fear of being wrong, as students can offer ideas they have agreed upon with their partner.

Think, pair, square, share

1. Students are prompted with a question, topic, claim or idea.
2. They are given time to think, typically between 10 and 20 seconds. The time can be extended for complex questions or topics. It can also involve time to record ideas.
3. Students pair up with someone near them to discuss their answers and ideas.
4. Pairs team up with another pair to discuss further before sharing. This can be helpful to expose students to a wider range of ideas and vocabulary.
5. Invite students to share with the class, starting with "(Student's name) and I discussed/thought/talked about..."

Inside, outside circle

1. Form two circles, one 'inside' the other. Students in the 'inside' circle face outwards, and students in the 'outside' circle face inwards, thus pairing students up with a student in the opposite circle.
2. Pairs discuss a given question or topic, or share ideas.
3. One circle then moves in a specific direction for a specific quantity. For example: "Inside circle move three people to the left", or "Outside circle move 5 people to the right", thus creating new pairs. Only one circle moves each round.
4. New pairs then discuss the same question/topic as with the previous partner, thus exposing them to new ideas and vocabulary and building their knowledge. Alternatively, new questions/topics can be discussed.
5. Repeat as many times as desired.

Give one, get one

1. Students list ideas in response to a question, topic or prompt.
2. Students spread out in a designated space and move around, perhaps to music or with a specific movement.
3. When a signal is given the partner up with the closest person.
4. Pairs 'give one' idea to their partner, and 'get one' in return. They list new ideas, or put a mark next to ideas their partner shared that they already had.
5. Students move around in the space until a signal to find a new partner is given.
6. Repeat as desired.

Surveys are a tool used to gather information about a specific phenomena. They can be used to collect quantitative (numerical) or qualitative (descriptive) data. The data collected is then analysed to find patterns in results or similarities and difference in responses. These are used to make generalisations which may inform future actions.

What might students do with information collected in a survey?

Analyse the data collected

• Group responses that are the same/similar.
• Look for patterns in these groupings, for example larger households v smaller households, or drivers v public transport users.
• Make some generalisations from that data, for example 'people who use public transport are more likely to recycle a larger amount of their weekly rubbish'.

Represent the data collected

• Create a graph that is appropriate for your year level.
• Consider infographics to represent the data.
• Present your generalisations with the evidence that backs it up.

Plan next steps based on the information the data provided

• Design/make a solution for a problem suggested by the data, for example an advertising campaign educating people on the benefits of driving that can be placed in places highly visible to car drivers.

The investigation in this step is a simple survey, as it involves identifying how many students had the same response. When students share their ideas with the class, patterns can be identified showing what students thought were the most important things needed for survival. This data can then be graphed.

The data can also be analysed to identify things that were not included, thus beginning to show students the limitations of surveys as a form of investigation. However this does not need to be specifically discussed.

A variety of peregrine falcons have been involved in the Charles Sturt University FalconCam Project. The first pair were Swift (female) and Beau (male) 2007-2015. Diamond (female) arrived with her first mate Bula in 2015, but Bula disappeared in 2016. Diamond has since mated with Xavier (male). They live in this location all year round. 

Mating and egg laying are specific to individual sites and falcon biology, so the following information relates to this specific site, and Diamond and Xavier only.

Late August/early September: Diamond will lay her eggs. Typically three eggs are laid about 48 hours apart.

September: Diamond and Xavier will take turns to incubate their eggs, although only Diamond will incubate at night (typically only the female peregrine falcon sleeps in the nest at night, with the male sleeping nearby).

Early October: The eggs will hatch. Hatching is a long process and it can take up to 72 hours for the chicks to appear.

October to November: Chicks will typically stay in the nest being cared for by Diamond and Xavier. They must be brooded constantly as they cannot regulate their own body temperatures, so parents take it in turns to hunt. Once the chicks have their second coat, they can be left alone for periods of time whilst the parents hunt for food. Each falcon pair allocate their caring roles differently. Xavier is quite active in the raising of the chicks compared to other peregrine falcon males.

Mid to late November: Chicks will fledge, making their first attempts to fly after about six weeks.

December to as late as March: Juveniles will remain in the nest for a couple of months learning flying and hunting skills under the guidance of Diamond and Xavier. At the end of this time they will leave the nest to begin life as an independent adult.

March to August: Diamond and Xavier will spend their days hunting, resting and doing whatever else adult peregrine falcons do.

If you have access to observe an animal in real life, the activities and question prompts given in this lesson, and subsequent lessons, can be easily modified to suit this context.

A different need for animal survival is the focus of each lesson. Consider what factors you might draw attention to in order to support students to develop their understanding of the importance of those needs.

For example:

• In Lesson 5 the focus is on establishing that animals need space and shelter. Consider the space and shelter needs of the animal students are observing. Draw attention to the size of the animal in relation to the amount of space it needs for its shelter—what does it need to comfortably sleep, eat/store food, raise young etc. Make these points the focus of conversation.
• In Lesson 6 the focus is on establishing that animals need food, air and water. Observe the food that the animal needs, and how they consume it. Discuss how, in the context of the animal being a 'pet', its need for food is met by humans. Discuss how it might meet these needs in the wild, and the body features it has to enable that. Also consider how the animal demonstrates that it drinks water, and needs air, particularly after periods of physical activity.
• In Lesson 7 the focus is on comparing the needs of a peregrine falcon, that have been identified during the previous lessons, to the needs of sheep. Substitute the focus of the discussion to focus on the needs of the class pet that have been identified.