Fecal Matter From Different Animals

There are different images of scat from different animals found in Iowa and videos of these animals eating. Students should be able to examine the scat to determine evolutionary relationships in the animals.

Video

Southeast

Iowa Core Standard

HS-LS4-1

Communicate scientific information that common ancestry and biological evolution are supported by multiple lines of empirical evidence

Driving Question

Why does the scat look like that?

Probing Questions

Why do the deer and rabbit scat look so different from the coyote and raccoon scat?
How can you use scat to determine an animal's role in the ecosystem?

Classroom Suggestions

Students could:

Compare digestive systems and foraging behaviors in animals.
Construct phylogenetic trees/cladograms based on the evolutionary relationships between the organisms.

Resources

NOVA Labs | Evolution Lab: Students can make cladograms with given information for multiple different organisms. This is a great interactive and tutorial on how to make and use phylogenetic trees.
PBS LearningMedia | NOVA Evolution Lab Game: An interactive tutorial that goes with the evolution lab to make phylogenetic trees.
Penn State University | Lesson 1: White-tailed Deer Biology and Adaptations: A General Overview: Deer feeding and anatomy information.
Farm Animal Report | Why Deer and Rabbits Poop Pellets: More detailed information on why the animals poop in pellets (more for the teacher as there are a lot of advertisements).

Contributors

Submitted by Laura McCreery.

Raccoon scat pictures taken by Ann Meehan.

Deer scat and videos taken by Larry Howell.