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*SKULLS* |
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NAM*AN*IMALS back to the main welcome page 
Cue Cardsread the cue cards you'll find at each station 
Skulls Discover the lifestyle of an animal based on its skull - info for both Skulls I and II 
Extra Tips - SkullsHints and logistical nuances of teaching this station 
Skulls Exhibitat the California Academy of Sciences 
Skull Matching Game Do you know your skulls? 
Skulls Unlimited InternationalWorld's leading supplier of osteological specimens  
DecompositionMaggots, maggots, and more maggots 
Site MapLinks to every page on this site |
The skulls are very fragile! Please handle them gently and treat them with respect. To avoid damaging the skulls, only place them on the rug or the fleece bag. Open your field notebook to the skulls page. Look at the skull in front of you. What size is it? What general shape is it? Use your hands to sculpt the air and show what size you think the whole animal is. Teeth Look at the teeth. Are there different types of teeth? Examine the shapes of the teeth. Use your tongue to find similarly shaped teeth in your own mouth. Can you tell what the animal eats by what kind of teeth it has? Sharper teeth are used for cutting and tearing, flatter teeth are used for grinding and chewing. What happens if an animal with sharp teeth uses its teeth for grinding or chewing? (Domestic dogs are an example of this, their sharp teeth become dull from eating crunchy dog food. Puppies have not eaten as much so their teeth are much sharper). Herbivores eat plants, carnivores eat meat, and omnivores eat both plants and meat. Which kind of animal is your skull? The long sharp teeth are called canines. The teeth between the canines are called incisors. The teeth behind the canines (toward the back of the mouth) are the premolars and molars. Count each type of tooth on your skull. Record your observations in your field notebook. Does your skull have any specialized teeth (such as really long incisors)? What could these teeth be used for? What happens if these teeth break or wear down? (Rodent teeth grow throughout their lifetime. They must chew on hard objects to wear their teeth down and keep them short). Nose Look into the nose of your skull. The more surface area there is inside the nose, the better the animal can smell. How does this compare with a human nose? Eyes Find the eye sockets on your skull. Put your fingers through the back of the skull into the eye sockets to see which direction the eyes point. Do they point forward or to the sides? Record your observations in your field notebook. What kinds of animals would want to see straight ahead? Why? Animals who hunt other animals (predators) need to focus on the prey that is in front of them. This kind of vision is called binocular vision. Hold your hands up to your eyes like a pair of binoculars. Both eyes see the same thing from a slightly different perspective. This makes it easy to tell how far away something is. What kinds of animals would want to see all around? Why? Animals who are hunted by other animals (prey) need to be aware of what is going on around them. This is called monocular vision. Hold your hands up like binoculars again, but this time cross your arms. Each eye is seeing a different image. This makes it easy to see more of what is going on, but harder to tell how far away something is. Hold your arms outstretched in front of you. With your index fingers extended and one eye closed, bring your fingers together and try to touch them to each other. Using one eye to view an image, distance is hard to gauge. Muscles The more surface area there is on the skull, the more places there are for muscles to attach. Is there a ridge along the top of your skull? This is called the saggital crest. The saggital crest is where the jaw muscles attach, the larger the crest, the stronger the jaw. What kinds of animals would need a strong jaw? Why? Look carefully at your skull, and compare it to the skull plates in the field guide. Can you tell which species it is? Read about your animal and fill in the information on the skulls page of your field notebook. |
