Lesson video

Hello, my name's Ms. Gilyeat, and I'm going to be your geography teacher for today.

Today's lesson is on Antarctic wildlife, so we're going to be looking about the different animals that live in Antarctica and what special features they have got which allow them to survive in such a harsh environment.

Looking forward to teaching you.

We've got loads of exciting things to be learning about.

So today's lesson outcome is that you can identify some of the wildlife found in the Antarctic and explain how it is affected by seasonal change.

We've got three key words for today's lesson.

So, first of all, I'm going to say the keyword, and then I would like you to repeat it back to me to check that we are pronouncing it correctly.

The first keyword is breeding.

Species Survive Breeding is when animals have babies, so, for example, when a cat has kittens.

A species is a type of plant or animal that shares characteristics.

And to survive is to continue to be alive.

Now today we are looking at animals in Antarctica.

Now the animals that live there have to live in extreme conditions, so they've got lots of special features which help them survive within that environment.

Now the keywords are in bold on here, and they're bold throughout the lessons, so you can keep referring back to them.

We have two key learning cycles for today's lesson.

The first learning cycle is Animals in Antarctica.

So we're going to look at some of the different types of animals that we get there including whales, some of the seals, and penguins.

We're then going to look at penguins in a little bit more detail especially the life of an emperor penguin.

Now this is a very special penguin because it's the only one of the penguins that lives in Antarctica for the whole year round.

On the slide, I've got three of the main animals that live in Antarctica.

Now, there's actually quite a lot more than this, but we've just decided to focus on three.

First of all, we've got blue whales on the left.

Now these are the biggest animals on Earth.

They can be 30 metres long and up to 200 tonnes.

So really big and heavy.

The second picture we have are orcas.

Now orcas are sometimes known as killer whales.

If you ever seen the film "Free Willy," that's an orca.

The third animal we have is a leopard seal which is a specific type of seal that you often find in the continent of Antarctica.

Now, all of the animals that live in Antarctica rely on the sea, and that is why most of the animals that live in Antarctica live on the coastline.

It is very rare to find animals further inland because they wouldn't be able to survive as there is no food there.

You hardly get any plants either.

Most of the continent of Antarctica is completely flat, really, and just covered in a big ice sheet.

Most of the exciting stuff is on the coastline.

Penguins are only found in the Southern Hemisphere, which means that's below or south of the equator.

Many different species of penguins visit Antarctica during the summer as there is a lot of food around.

Now, it's sometimes a bit easy to think that you would find penguins in the North Pole, or the Arctic.

So, just to clarify, in the North Pole, you find polar bears, but you don't find penguins, and, in the South Pole, you find penguins but not polar bears.

Now there are lots of different types of penguins in Antarctica.

Today we're going to learn about two of them.

So, on the left, we've got a picture of a chinstrap penguin.

Can you figure out why it's called a chinstrap penguin? So, if you look carefully at the picture, there is a black strip under its beak, and that's why it's called the chinstrap penguin.

The photograph on the right shows an emperor penguin which is a very special penguin, and they're very big.

They're the biggest type of penguins, and they've got yellow marks just behind their ears which makes them easily identifiable.

Here we've got a picture of a mother and a baby penguin.

Now I think what's actually happening in the photograph is that the mother penguin is just about to feed the baby penguin.

So, very cute.

Now, as you can see, the baby penguin's all fluffy, so it's not until they get a little bit older where they get that lovely smooth coat with the yellow behind their ears.

When they're first born, and when they're little, they're like these grey little fluffy balls, quite cute.

To check our understanding, I'd like to see if you can match the photograph with the name of the animal.

Pause the video, and you could do it by yourself or with your friend if you're sat next to a friend.

So the first photograph we've got there is a blue whale.

We've then got orcas, or killer whales some people call them, and a leopard seal.

Did you get those right? The first task that I'd like you to do for today's lesson is research an animal that lives in Antarctica and create a fact file.

Now it's up to you how you'd like to do your fact file.

You could either do it on a piece of paper.

You could even create it on quite a big piece of paper and do it as like a poster, or, if you'd prefer to do it on the computer, you could do it on a Word document or a PowerPoint.

It's completely up to you.

A fact file is a piece of information about a certain thing.

So, on the slide, I've got some ideas of what you could include in your fact file of the animal.

So what the animal eats and where it gets its food from.

Now we already know that the animals in the Antarctic feed off the sea, but can you find out whereabouts in the sea? Do they swim afar? Okay, and then I'd like you to find out what special features that animal has which helps it survive in the continent.

If you've done any of the previous lessons in this topic, you will have learned that Antarctica's climate, so the weather or the long-term weather, you have in the continent is extreme.

It can get really cold.

The coldest temperature ever recorded was -89 degrees, and it can also get quite windy.

So the animals that live there have special features which help them survive in such a harsh environment.

Can you find out what they have? In your fact file, it would be brilliant if you could try and include some pictures of your animal.

So, pause the video, and good luck with your fact file.

On the slide here, I've got an example of a fact file for a leopard seal.

So I'll read out this information, and then maybe you could think if you could add any extra to your fact file.

So leopard seals eat krill, fish, squid, and penguins.

They mostly live in the sea, but they come onto Antarctica in the summer months.

The reason that they do that is that they can have a bit of sun, and also there's more food available.

They have a thick layer of blubber, so that's a bit like fat, and fur to help them keep them warm.

We're now moving on to our second learning cycle which is looking at the life of an emperor penguin, a very special penguin.

Now they're very special because emperor penguins are the only penguin which stays in Antarctica through the winter.

Now Antarctica, for certain points of the year, doesn't get any sunlight.

The reason for that is because Antarctica is sat on an axis.

Sorry, not Antarctica, the Earth is sat on an axis, and that means, at some points, when the Earth is orbiting the Sun, there will be a point in the air where Antarctica is facing away from the sunlight.

And that means there are periods when there is just complete darkness.

So the sun never rises.

Now that can be really, really hard for animals 'cause it gets really, really cold.

Now, that has meant that most of the penguins that live in Antarctica actually decide to go away for the Antarctic winter and go somewhere a little bit warmer and less extreme.

Emperor penguins have very special features which help them survive the Antarctic winter.

Now they have webbed feet to help them swim, and that means between their toes there's flaps of skin.

This means that when they are paddling, they can swim a little bit more easily.

If they can swim more easily, it also means that they can hunt more easily too which is very, very handy if you are a penguin.

They have really thick feathers.

The reason they have such thick feathers is to keep them nice and warm.

These are called physical adaptations because you can physically see the special feature on the penguin.

There are also ways that animals behave which helps them survive.

These are called behavioural adaptations 'cause it's not physically you that you can see, but it's something that the penguins or the animals do which help them survive.

Now the penguins are really, really clever, and they decide to work as a team.

So what they do, is they all huddle together in a big group to keep warm.

What's even more clever is that they take it in turns to be on the outside of the huddle.

Now, if you imagine it's gonna be much, much colder if you're on the outside of a big group of penguins than you are in the middle.

So, they take it in turns, the middle being the best spot, probably, where it's warmest, and the outside being the worst spot, where it's coldest, but at least they take it in turns.

That's quite nice.

Let's check our understanding.

So the question is, how do emperor penguins survive the Antarctic winter? Do they: a, huddle together; b, hibernate, which means they go to sleep for long periods of time; or c, go underground.

The answer's a.

They huddle together.

Emperor penguins breed through the winter.

That means that's when they have their babies.

The mother lays one egg and then will go hunt for food for the next two months.

Well, you might be thinking, "Well what happens to the egg?" Well, this is when the father gets involved, and he stands or sits on the egg for two months to keep the egg nice and warm.

In that time he's doing that, he doesn't eat anything.

He's just making sure that the baby chick or if it's not been born yet, the egg, is looked after.

So the mother penguin goes and hunts for food, and what she does, she catches fish in the sea and eats it and puts it in her stomach.

When she comes back to the baby penguin, she then does something that's a little bit disgusting.

It called regurgitating.

So she actually throws up the food that she's eaten, that's in her stomach, to the baby, but the baby doesn't mind really 'cause he just really, really hungry and wants the food.

Once the mother has come back to look after the chick, that then means that the father penguin can go off and hunt for food too.

Let's check our understanding.

So why do mother and father penguins take it in turn to look after the chick? Is it: a, to meet other penguins; b, to find a new home; or c, so they can both hunt for food.

Pause the video, and have a go.

It's c.

So they can both hunt for food.

The second task for today's lesson is you're going to put these statements in order of how an emperor penguin chick is born.

So I'll read them out to you, and then I'll explain what you're going to do.

Mother penguin returns with food for the baby chick.

Father penguin can then go off and hunt.

The father penguins stand in a big huddle to stay warm with the other penguins.

Father penguin stands over the egg to look after it.

Eventually the chick will grow up and be able to look after itself.

Mother penguin lays an egg.

So those are the statements.

You need to put them in order of what happens first to what happens last.

There's six ones to put in order.

Pause the video, and have a go.

You could either do this on the worksheet or, if you've not got the worksheet printed, you could write them out into your exercise book or a piece of paper.

Let's check your answers.

The first thing that happens is the mother penguin lays an egg.

Secondly, the father penguin stands over the egg to look after it.

The father penguin then stands in a big huddle to stay warm with the other penguins.

Mother penguin returns home with food for the baby chick.

It's then turn for the father penguin to go off and hunt, and eventually the chick will grow up and be able to look after itself.

How did you do? Did you get them all right? If not, maybe pause the video, and see if you can change any of your answers.

On the slide, we've got a summary of today's lesson.

Most animals that live in Antarctica just live there for the summer months to hunt, so that's to catch food, and to breed, to have babies.

Emperor penguins are the only penguin species that live on Antarctica all year round.

Emperor penguins have special features which allow them to survive in the Antarctic winter such as huddling together to keep warm.

Now that's it for today's lesson.

I hope you've enjoyed yourself, and you've enjoyed learning about the Antarctic wildlife.

I've really enjoyed teaching you.

Yeah, and it's time for you to go share all this information that you've learned with your family and friends.

See you soon.