INTRODUCTORY ACTIVITY:
1. Let students know that today they will be learning about the jungle. Ask students if they can explain the difference between a tropical rainforest and a jungle. (A tropical rainforest is a biome located roughly within 10 degrees of the equator. Approximately half of all plants and animal species on the planet live in the rainforest. A jungle is the dense portion of a tropical rainforest.)

2. Explain that today you are going to explore species living in the jungle and the adaptations and skills that help them survive. Ask students to brainstorm what they think an “adaptation” is. Write down all answers. (Possible points to raise during the discussion: An adaptation is a physical feature, behavior or skill, developed over the course of many generations, which helps a species survive. Adaptation also refers to the evolutionary process by which a species becomes better suited to its habitat.)

3. Ask students to list some animal adaptations. Write down their responses. (Answers might include camouflage, long necks to grab food in high places, etc.)

4. Let students know they will be playing a game where they will learn about various adaptations that help species survive in the jungle. Divide the class into groups of 5-10 students each. Give each group an “Adaptations Game.” (download here)

5. Challenge each group to match each species to an adaptation that helps it survive. Encourage students to use print and/or online resources to help them complete this task.
Note: Some of the featured adaptations are used by more than one of the species listed on the “Species Cards” and some of the species have more than one of the adaptations listed on the “Adaptations Sheet.” For this activity, challenge students to place only one species on each adaptation.

6. Once each group has successfully matched a species to an adaptation, encourage students to work alone or in pairs to gather information about each adaptation and how it helps the species survive. Each student or pair of students should select one adaptation to research. Encourage students to use a variety of print and/or online sources, including the BBC’s Virtual Jungle website . Give students about 15 minutes to conduct their research.

7. After the groups have collected their information, ask them to share their findings with the rest of the class. Lead a discussion about the adaptations featured in the game. Refer to the “Adaptations Game Answer Key,” as needed. During the discussion, talk about how each adaptation helps the species survive in the jungle. Refer to the table below for possible items to include in the discussion.

8. Review your description and examples of an “adaptation” that the class brainstormed earlier. Work with the class to revise the description. Encourage students to add more details to the definition of the adaptation. (For example: An adaptation is a physical feature or a skill, developed over the course of many generations which helps a species to find, capture and kill prey and to defend itself.)

9. Add additional examples of adaptations to the list, based on information gathered in the first activity. Create a three-column list, like the one shown below, to record student responses. (Leave room in the chart for students to add more information later in the lesson.

LEARNING ACTIVITY 1
1. Summarize that there are a variety of adaptations that help species defend themselves and find food in the jungle. FRAME clip #1, “Panther Chameleon,” by explaining that students will now learn more about a species called the panther chameleon and the adaptations that help it survive in the jungle.

2. Ask students to share information they know about chameleons. Write down the students’ responses. (Possible answers might include that they change color.) If students mention chameleons change color, ask them to brainstorm why they think this happens.

3. Explain that you are now going to show a video segment from the PBS program NATURE: “Moment of Impact, Part 2: Jungle.” Provide a FOCUS for the clip, asking students to list 3 different skills that help the panther chameleon survive and describe how each skill helps them in the jungle.

4. PLAY Video Segment #1, “Panther Chameleon.” After playing the clip, FOLLOW UP by asking students to list some adaptations (including special skills and physical features) the panther chameleon uses to survive and describe how each of those adaptations helps it. Access the video segments for this lesson at the Video Segments Page.
The discussion can include the following:
o How and why its color changes.
• How its color changes: The color change takes place below transparent outer skin. Chromatophores (stretchable pigment cells) are ringed with muscle fibers. When the fibers contract, they pull on the chromatophores, quickly spreading their color. The upper layer handles red and yellow tints. Another layer of cells below reflects blue light.
• Why its color changes: Panther chameleons don’t change color to camouflage their presence from surroundings. They change color to communicate. Coloring reflects their mood when sparring with other males or when attracting attention of females.

o Special skills/ features:
• Tongue: When extended, the panther chameleon’s tongue is longer than its body. The tongue enables the chameleon to quickly catch a prey. The sticky tip grabs the prey and its skin flaps keep it in place.
• Eyes: Each eye can rotate and focus separately. With a pinhole in the center, each eye has a full 360 degree view.
• Hunting Strategy: The chameleon edges toward the prey, but doesn’t chase it.

Optional Extension Activity
1. Share “Karma Chameleon” lyrics with students and play the song for the class to hear.

2. Ask students to reflect upon and discuss the lyrics in relation to what they know about chameleons. Ask students to look at the bolded words and phrases below. Ask students to conduct additional research about chameleons to see how accurately the bolded words and phrases (such as “cling” or “come and go”) describe chameleons:

When we cling our love is strong
When you go you’re gone forever
You string along, you string along

Karma karma karma karma, karma chameleon
You come and go, you come and go
Loving would be easy if your colors were like my dream
Red gold and green, red gold and green
Every day is like survival
You’re my lover, not my rival
Every day is like survival
You’re my lover, not my rival

3. Challenge students to write their own poem or song lyrics to the tune of “Karma Chameleon,” another existing song or an original composition, with words that accurately describe the panther chameleon’s adaptations. Here are two sample verses (to the tune of the last two “Karma Chameleon” verses listed above):
Panther, panther, panther, panther, panther chameleon
You move so slow, you move so slow
Your eyes keep movin’ & turnin’ around and around
You’re on the hunt, but don’t make a sound

Your hue is ever changing
Where you are we do not know
Your hue is ever changing
Where you are we do not know

4. After students have written their poems/verses, ask them to present and discuss them with the group.

LEARNING ACTIVITY 2
1. Divide students into four groups. Assign each group to one of the four layers of the jungle:
1) forest floor, 2) understory, 3) canopy and 4) emergent layer.

2. Give each group 15-20 minutes to research their assigned section of the jungle. Specifically, ask students to find out the following:
o Names of species living in the layer.
o Adaptations that help the species protect themselves and find food.
Encourage students to use online and print resources to gather the information. Here are some websites that could be helpful:
• The PBS Jungle Journey website
• The BBC Virtual Jungle website
• Mongabay.com’s rainforest information: http://rainforests.mongabay.com/:
•The Canopy
•The Forest Floor
• Layers of a Rainforest

3. Ask each group to present information about the layer it studied, the species that inhabit it and the adaptations that help them survive.

4. Lead a discussion with the group about the challenges of living in each of the layers of the jungle. Here are some possible items to include in the discussion:

5. Review the class’ 3-column chart of adaptations and add additional adaptations to the list.

CULMINATING ACTIVITY
1. Explain to students that, working in pairs or small groups, they will select a species that lives in the jungle, find out information about that species and create a 3-dimensional model or computer-animated model to illustrate how it seeks prey and/or defends itself in the jungle.

2. Ask students to review a few of the “Moment of Impact, Part 2: Jungle” video segments listed for this lesson in order to select the species they would like to research. (Access the video segments for this lesson at the Video Segments Page.) Ask each group to select one of the following species:
o Amazonian boa
o basilisk lizard
o bat
o Cuban crocodile
o leafcutter ant
o blue morpho butterfly
o osprey
o panther chameleon
o paradise tree snake
o red-eyed tree frog
o spider monkey
o tiger
o trap-jaw ant

3. Once students have selected their species, ask them to watch the corresponding segment again and record information about the highlighted adaptations. Encourage students to conduct additional research to find out more about their species.

4. Ask students to pick one or more adaptations to highlight in their project and to brainstorm the best ways to illustrate how that adaptation works. For example, if they have selected the panther chameleon, they could create a 3-d model of a panther chameleon that includes a “tongue” that extends to a length larger than the chameleon’s body, a body that changes color and/or eyes that each rotate 360 degrees.

5. The completed project could include a diagram, 3-d model and/or computer-generated animation and must include the following:
o Information about adaptations/features that help the species get food and/or defend itself against predators.
o A diagram, 3-d model or computer-generated video, created by the students, which demonstrates one or more skills/adaptations that help the species to survive. Here are some examples of adaptations that can be highlighted for each species:

6. Ask each group to present its work to the class and to lead a discussion about what it discovered about the species and its adaptations during the process.

7. Lead a discussion with the class, encouraging students to share facts they learned about the jungle, its species and their adaptations. Review the class’ definition of an “adaptation” and revise, as needed. Ask students to look at the class’ 3-column chart of adaptations and add new information learned during the lesson.