ARKive School Museum What are endangered species and why are they endangered?

What is an ARKive School Museum? This school had an exhibit about the size of different endangered species in their museum. We are going to use the images and information on the ARKive website to help us create our School Museum.

What is an endangered species? Hawksbill turtle Tiger Blue whale Yellow-eyed penguin

Why do species become endangered? Golden-crowned sifaka Habitat lossHunting Cape fox Pollution Black bear Can you think of any other reasons?

Lets look at the polar bear

Why is the polar bear endangered?

How can we share the story of the polar bear and other endangered species?

What is an ARKive School Museum? Why not create a giant world map and look at where different endangered species can be found? You could create masks of different endangered species to teach people about species they never knew existed! You could look at the size of different endangered species – how do you compare to a whale?

Turn a polar bear … into an exhibit! STEP 1. Learn fun facts about the polar bear on ARKive and find out why it is endangered STEP 2. Create your own polar bear mask, using the template on ARKive STEP 3. Write a poem, short story or act out a skit about saving the polar bear for your ARKive School Museum.

Let’s look at some other endangered species from around the world

Giraffe Green turtle Animal eggs FACT: Giraffe’s use their long neck to eat leaves at the tops of trees. FACT: Less than 1 out of every 1,000 turtle hatchlings survive to adulthood. FACT: Birds and reptiles lay eggs of all different colors and sizes. EXHIBIT: Draw and decorate a life-sized giraffe head and neck. Place markers on the wall at different heights. See what you can reach by yourself and what a giraffe can reach with its long neck. EXHIBIT: Fill a box or jar with 1,000 cotton balls and ask visitors to pull out the number of hatchlings (cotton balls) they think survive to adulthood. Share with them the real answer - just one! EXHIBIT: Print a variety of pictures of egg- laying animals along with a picture of the eggs they lay. Ask visitors to match up which eggs match which species and why. More exhibit ideas

Now we are going to create our own ARKive School Museum! What endangered species would you like to learn more about?