RUE Episode 64 Ocean Life Adaptations

In Episode 64, we look at Ocean Life Adaptations after a review of animal diets. Indeed, we use the diets of bald eagles and other animals to form a link to their physical adaptations.

Viewing Episode 64

View Episode 64 in its entirety as seen on RVTV and your local public access or educational station. Click here to seen the archived episode.

An Osprey on the Columbia river with a fish in its talons. Photo courtesy of Cal Holman. Visit his website: http://www.calholmanphotography.com/

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This episode can be viewed a segment at a time, which each segment lasting about 10 minutes.

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Segment 3

Episode Summary

Following a review of animal diets, physical adaptations of animals become the focus of this episode. We watch as a bald eagle catches a fish and flies away with it. We explore the physical adaptations that allow an eagle to get this meal (keen eyesight, fine-tuned wings, sharp talons, sharp, pointed beak). We share some action words that can be used to communicate information about an animal’s diet.

We take a look at the osprey, a fish-eating bird that is smaller than a bald eagle, but one that has many of the same adaptations. We switch our focus to marine animals by watching a video about seals and sea lions. We pay special attention to harbor seals and the adaptations that help them thrive in their cold-water environment. We use these adaptations and the advantages they give to show a cause/effect relationship. Further, we share the words and phrases that connect facts to communicate this cause/effect relationship.

Language Objectives

Use verbs (action words) to illustrate the natural process of acquiring food that animals use. Use connecting words and phrases to illustrate a cause/effect relationship.

Academic Content Objectives

Science: Life science: Explain how animals use their physical adaptations to secure food. List some actions that animals take to hunt, prey upon, and eat their prey. Identify physical adaptations that allow harbor seals to survive in their habitats. Explain the cause/effect relationship between an animal’s physical adaptations and how those adaptations give them an advantage in their environment.

Video Clips used in this Episode

Click here to see the video about Seals and Sea Lions

Seals and Sea Lions can also be enjoyed without ads on archive.org. Click here to watch and/or download.

Learning Materials Used in this Episode

We shared sources for information on an animal’s diet. In the source you’re using for your report, you may find these facts under the following headings in your resource information:

Diet

Food

Behavior

Habitat

Although these sections may me devoted to other areas of your animal’s research, they may have additional information about your animal’s diet.

Words to use for presenting diet information:

(Name of your animal) Eats (What your animal Eats).

(What your animal eats) is an important food source for (name of your animal).

An important food source for (name of your animal) is (name of food and/or where it gets this food).

For adding more information about n animal’s diet, you can use the following words:

(name of animal) also eats (name of food).

(Name of animal) additionally eats (name of food).

EX: Bald Eagles additionally include small mammals and other birds in their predation.

We include examples of HOW an animal gets its food. We used the example of the bald eagle. Some words we used were these action words:

spots

swoops down

grabs

grips

flies off with…

Other words and phrases about how an animal gets food include:

stalk

strike

jump on

ambush

outrun

gives chase

Singular or plural presentation:

A bald Eagle gets its prey by….

Bald eagles get their prey by….

Photo Credit Cal Holman. http://www.calholmanphotography.com/
Harbor Seal Photo by Uncruise Crew

In this episode, we turned from diet to the adaptations an animal has to survive and thrive in its environment. We’re looking at the adaptations of harbor seals. They’re shown below. Click on a slide to enlarge it. Use the back arrow on your browser to return to this page,

Next Episode

In Episode 65, we return to Adaptations – giving more examples and listing the connecting words and phrases to communicate a cause/effect relationship. Click here to go to the Episode 65 page.