Biology Kannady

Today we learned about predators and prey:

Predators: Any living thing that easts something else for food.
Prey is food.
Prey is not always living, but predators always.


Predator/Prey Clips

http://education-portal.com/academy/lesson/interspecies-competition-and-predator-prey-interactions.html#lesson

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/lessons/survival-of-the-fastest-predators-and-prey-on-the-african-savannah/video-segments/5662/

http://www.pbslearningmedia.org/resource/tdc02.sci.life.reg.cocos/beneath-the-waters-of-cocos-island/

http://video.nationalgeographic.com/video/leopard_protectskill

http://www.smithsonianchannel.com/sc/web/video/titles/15336/both-predator-and-prey

Worksheets:
http://printables.scholastic.com/printables/detail/?id=31864&query=predators+and+prey&N=0&Ntk=printables_minibooks&Ntt=predators+and+prey&_fq=fff&No=0&spellcheck=false

http://www.superteacherworksheets.com/food-chains/predator-prey_WMNRN.pdf

Game:
http://www.exploringnature.org/db/detail.php?dbID=13&detID=2528

Predator/Prey Interactions

You may remember that a predator is an animal that hunts and kills other animals for food. Conversely,prey is a term used to describe animals that are hunted and killed by predators. Now, for the purposes of this lesson, when I talk about predators and prey, we can also think of herbivores as predators of plants and plants as prey of herbivores. The interactions between a predator and its prey, as well as the interactions between a herbivore and the plants it eats, are some of the most powerful driving forces behind evolution.

Predation is a strong, selective pressure that drives prey organisms to find ways to avoid being eaten. Prey organisms that are difficult to find, catch or consume are the ones that will survive and reproduce. The result is that over evolutionary time, prey organisms have developed a stunning array of strategies to avoid being eaten. Some defensive strategies are pretty obvious, and top among the list of obvious strategies is running away. Gazelle, deer, small mammals and lizards often rely on their speed and quickness to escape predators, and many birds rely on flight as their primary defensive strategy. Some organisms, like armadillos, tortoises, porcupines and thorny plants, use armor, quills and thorns to defend themselves against predators.