How does a starfish eat?
Animal Adaptations (New offering: Kâ5, adapted for age) looks at how animals are adapted to their environment â both in body form and behavior. Children will see how webbed feet, claws, hooves, prehensile tails, flippers and feathers can help different animals move around in their respective habitats. A number of ingenious adaptations that allow animals to protect themselves from predators and parasites are featured. Certain themes are seen in animals that live in specific habitats, such as deserts, treetops, grasslands and tidepools. Project suggestions are made for follow-up. In a classroom setting, a short project following the powerpoint presentation will allow children to examine, draw and describe adaptations of specific animals for diet, locomotion, and habitat. Butterflies, Moths and Their Caterpillars (Kâ8, modified for age) starts with a beautiful example of the life cycle and examines how butterflies and moths live, what they eat, and how they sense their environment. Their
———————————————————————- A starfish turns its stomach inside out to eat. When it finds something tasty (like a snail), it extrudes its stomach through a tiny hole. The stomach is like a transparent bag made out of thin rubber. It wraps around the prey, completely surrounding it, and the prey is digested. If the prey is a tough morsel like a hard-shelled mussel, the starfish attaches its suction-tube feet to the mussel’s shells and simply pulls them apart. It can do this because it is able to exert a huge, steady force with a network of hydraulic tubes that run through its entire body. Once the shells are open, the stomach goes in through the gap and dinner is served. Long article about starfish as pets, with great pictures and lots of information about various feeding habits: http://www.aquarium.net/0797/0797_2.shtml The crown-of-thorns starfish is specialized to eat coral: http://www.aims.gov.au/pages/reflib/cot-starfish/pages/cot-q20.html
