The goal of this lesson is to introduce students to the advantages behind the colors and patterns displayed on Wisconsin critters using a collection of photos from Snapshot Wisconsin, a citizen science project utilizing a statewide network of trail cameras. This lesson plan includes an optional outdoor activity.

Riley Thompson, from the College of the Atlantic, tells the story of how animals become invisible.

Here is a semi-interactive video (with the option of a single, non-interactive video here) from CreatureCast alum Sophia Tintori, featuring tips from a handful of ocean-dwellers that each have drastically different approaches to being invisible.

Students discuss how they and other organisms adapt to survive in different environments. They discover the characteristics of deep sea extremophiles that help those organisms survive in several deep sea ecosystems.

In this lesson, students learn how adaptations, limiting factors, and predator prey relationships all affect the survival of plants and animals. Predator-prey relationships are simulated in two games, where students record their experiences and display data in story and chart/graph form, and explore the adaptations of animals in terrestrial and aquatic habitats. Extension activities include habitat investigations in natural areas.