Optional Activities
- Mammal Reproduction Sort: Make three sorting cards: Monotreme (egg-laying), Marsupial (pouch), Placental (live birth). Then list 15 animals and sort them. Include surprises: platypus (monotreme), opossum (marsupial, and North American!), kangaroo (marsupial), dog, whale, bat, elephant, and echidna. Which category has the most species? Which has the fewest?
- Adaptive Radiation Case Study: After the K-Pg extinction, mammals underwent rapid “adaptive radiation”. They diversifyed quickly into empty ecological niches. Research adaptive radiation using Darwin’s finches as a simpler example first, then apply the same concept to Cenozoic mammals. What niches did mammals fill that dinosaurs had previously occupied?
- Monotreme Mystery: The platypus is one of the strangest animals alive: egg-laying, venomous, electroreception, beaver tail, duck bill. When European scientists first saw a platypus specimen, many thought it was a hoax. Research the platypus’s evolutionary history: how long has it been isolated in Australia? What does it tell us about ancient mammal diversity?