Victor's Science Blog

Evolution Project Blog: Victor N. 8B our slouse Summary This project was quite interesting to me. In this project, I am to work with my team to create a species that fits into its environment, whether is Planet A, B, C, or D. We chose The Slouse , because it fits in the environment of Planet A. The slouse is made up of the two main animals, sloth, and mouse. The slouse has the speed and claws of a sloth and is the size of a mouse. The slouse will stay warm by taking crevices of rocks and under its shell. The fur will also keep it warm. It will get its food and water by scooping with its strong and long tongue. The slouse will eat mostly insects and plants. It will avoid its predators by hiding under its rock and camouflaging with other dark surroundings. The slouse will care for its young by staying close to it until they mature. The slouse is placed between the mouse and fish. The large hunting cats are the predators. The slouse is very well at climbing trees but is not tal...

Weekly Blog : Victor N. 8B Designer Species Doc. Designer Species Presentation Summary Through our Evolution Project, we are to design our own species and organism. My organism is the Slouse. The Slouse is combined of the two main animals, sloth and mouse. The size of it is about the size of a mouse. The Slouse can climb well, like a sloth but isn’t tall. The black fur will keep the organism warm. The Slouse preys on insects and eats most plants. The animal has night vision so it can see while hunting for food and water. It will camouflage to avoid its predators. These characteristics of the Slouse is made so the animals fit into the environment, which is Planet A. Planet A is cold, dark, and wet most of the time. But with the fur, vision, and it’s strong characteristics, the Slouse will do just fine.  SP2 - Using models Our project is basically creating an organism that fits into a scenario. In this case, we created The Slouse: a sloth and a mouse, which lives on ...

Weekly Blog : Victor N. 8B Image Link Summary: You need a diagram to see how things are related to each other, right? Cladograms help us identify relationships between organisms. They show common traits and characteristics, and common ancestors of different species and organisms to see how they are closely related. In a cladogram (picture above), you can see there are 2 parts, the name of the organism and the name of the trait/ancestor. The more characteristics the organisms share, the "down the telescope" it is. In the cladogram above, you can see that the chimpanzee has all the trait below it, from common mammal ancestor to common vertebrate ancestor. The chimpanzee is closely related to the bear because it shares more common traits. The word species in Latin means kind. Species are groups of interbreeding organisms that do not ordinarily breed with members of other groups. You can classify life different ways, but to see the relations between different organisms...

Weekly Blog : Victor N. 8B Image Location Summary: There are four lines of evidence for evolution: comparative  anatomy, embryology, fossil records, and DNA. Comparative anatomy is looking at the similar and different features in different organisms and species. For example, if you look at the bones in humans, horses, cats, bats, birds, and whales (pictures above), you can see that they all have 4 parts in the arm. But there is a small difference in them. Humans and bats have 5 fingers, while a bird has 3 fingers. Embryology is looking at the development and embryos of species and comparing them. Fossil records are used to compare organisms in the past to organisms in the present, to show that they are different. Fossils records can also show how organisms acted and how that could apply to present plants and animals. DNA could be used to see how organisms are related to each other. Even if is a small change in the DNA, the organisms are still related because that is cal...

Weekly Blog : Victor N. 8B Image Link Links - News Article Peppered Moth WS Natural Selection Summary: Natural Selection is organisms that are best adapted to the environment, to survive and reproduce. Through this week, I went through the journey of how the theory of natural selection came-to-be to becoming finches. Charles Darwin is the person who had a theory about natural selection while sailing the HMS Beagle. He made important discoveries through South America and had a famous book called, the Origin of Species .  Darwin saw that birds on different islands acted the same, but looked different. He thought that there was a change in the DNA, and there was. "Every species exhibits variations." Traits are passed on from the parent to their offspring. If an organism has traits that will help it survive, then most likely it will reproduce and carry on that trait. And that is what natural selection is. This week is Manufacturing Week. Visiting 2 companies...